Sex in the Suburbs

Ladie's listen up, the movie "Sex in the City" is FABULOUS a must see for you and your girlfriends. The anticipation was so worth the wait and I must say I was pleasantly surprised myself on how great they did the show. Friday morning I booked tickets to go see a matinee with my girlfriends Michelle, Angie, Lynae & myself and after the movie for sure women across the nation & world will be not only talking but having "Sex in the Suburbs" themselves, me included. Be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions, sex, drama, comedy & of course glamour, everything a woman wants to see in a movie, I've never cried or laughed so much in a movie ever before it had touched so many personal buttons of my own life that I just wanted to scream, it felt like the writers are right in my own head. The most memorable part that stood out for me in the movie was the strong friendships these women had created, the support of one another with their dreams, failures and love and the relationships with one another and others in their life and how they managed to always come back to their true authentic selves. It's so important to have great girlfriends by your side through bad hair, makeup disasters, new born children and relationship tragedies, a girlfriend is so much more than a friend, she's a soul sister, someone to console in and a reflection of yourself whether it be positive or negative, thats how my girls make me feel no matter what, we will be that sexy, funny beautiful girl God intended us to be, so don't just sit there, call up a few girls, go in deep and bring out your inner Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda grab a few cocktails and go see the movie.

r
:)

Moon Cycle

I was awakened by the new moon creeping through an open blind early this morning, as I opened my eyes a was greeted by Mother Moons smiling shine, I smiled and rolled back over to get 40 more winks but as I attempted to go to sleep my mothers family name
T A W H A I went past like credits rolling for a movie in my third eye, I knew I had to call my mum straight away because I knew this was a continuation of a dream I had last week, I had dreamt that my Aunty had past and I dreamt of her and her daughter, for the past 3 days now I have been trying to call them and my mum, so after seeing the name come across this early morning I dialed my mum's number, when she answered I knew something was up by the tone of her voice, she proceeded to tell me that she had just come back from a tangi (funeral) and it actually was the sister to the Aunty I had dreamt about, they looked so alike that in my dream I thought it was the other but it wasn't, I knew then that the day I had that dream was the day she passed and believed that she had come to visit me to let me know she had crossed over. I was saddened to hear that she passed but know that she is in a good place with all our ancestors, apparently she had a big send off and all the families gathered. There's only 4 sisters left out of this generation now and we cherish these ladies because they hold so much knowledge and wisdom in which my mothers generation & my generation still need to learn so we are able to pass on to future generations. My Aunty Annie was one of my grandfather's sister, this is my mother's father's family and my grandfather, affectionately known as Papa, had 16 siblings so you could imagine the size of all the cousins and 2nd cousins that I have, and like I mentioned we only have 4 nanny's living. I will miss my Aunty and my heart mourns for the family left behind, time will heal the pain the cycle of life will continue and so another day will come to a close and another day begins.

"e takoto nei e moe nga roa e qui ma, pai marire, ake ake ake amine"

Now you lay in the long sleep sweet lady may peace be with you for ever and ever until we meet again, amen

Tea Time with Mrs Chapin

Today I had tea with my girlfriend Michelle and its always a delight to have her hang out with me. She's 38 weeks along in her pregnancy and she still took the long trek out to come see me and help me with making Buckeye Candies for our family renuion coming up this year. We had a great time catching up with our weeks and creative ideas that the time just sped by so so fast. I wasn't sure if she was eating fish yet so I cooked up some fried vege's, zuccini, peppers with mashed sweet potatoe, guacamole dip with fruit chips and for dessert personal banana pudding with fresh whipped cream.

mmmmm yummy yum yum, after filling our bellies up we got to work on the buckeyes and they turned out scrumptous and Michelle did a fantastic job on them and the gift boxes we're going to put them in. I enjoy cooking yet its so much more fun with a girlfriend, chatting and raving on about stuff then all of a sudden so it seems you've created something beautiful. Enjoy the yummy photo's, its a hard job but you know someone has to do it.

Michelle has been creating felt cupcake pin cushions and presented me with two cupcakes which are so cool I can't wait for her to show me how to make them, they'll make great chrissy gifts for the family & friends, she also shared with me a great muffin book she was given to her by her sister in law Kara, with some great recipes like, lavender chocolate muffins.

Today has been an awesome day so far, later on twinkle toes (my darling darryl) and myself are going to our weekly dance class and I can't wait because we both got new shoes to where especially for dancing. I recommend ballroom dance classes for couples, its better than therapy and whole lot of laughs and fun, we're laughing with each other and not at each other and hopefully at the end of our lessons we'll be able to waltz to a song or two.

cheers for now

racheal

Garden Log by Green Thumb Frangipani

Today I am inspired to start my garden log, so each week I am going to blog about how my green thumb is coming along, I just came in from my front garden as I replenished the mulch and watered the plants, I am so happy when I'm potting around pulling weeds maintaining plants and just being in nature, I get to meditate and enjoy some fresh air with the colours of nature, I just love it. It has taken me approximately 5 years to finally finish my front yard garden, its been such an overwhelming project for me but with the help of my good friend Angie we created a beautiful eclectic garden portraying my personality, once my darling darryl & I completed the bed last autumn, this spring was all about beautifying and setting it up as you'll see in the before & after piki's.

Above: before photo's of my front garden, bit dismill isn't it

Below: after photo's of my front garden, huge improvement I think

I'm the only garden in my neighbourhood that has the "Happy Buddha" in their garden, go figure considering I do live in the bible belt state, I know its naughty but who wants to be like everyone else not me, he's lovely he stands under the cherry blossom tree which I thought appropriate, I think he's very happy in our garden. To me Buddha symbolizes Peace, Love & Happiness for All Kind. Well my next garden project is to make a garden around the tree in our front yard for Sydney, he's already chosen some flowers, he wants red, white & blue colours to bring in his Herbie element.

Green Thumb Frangipani signing out :)

Satisfaction

Is it weird to enjoy my little compost, I woke up this morning and got an early start on making a banana pudding for today's barbie, cleaned last night's dishes which funny enough I enjoyed as I felt an overall sense of cleansing of myself as I cleaned my kitchen. My most satisfaction was seeing my little compost heap piling up with all vege and fruit scraps, just the shear thought of recycling makes me happy and knowing that it will turn into black gold and get put back into the vege patch (another summer project I need to get onto)is pure satisfaction. It amazes me on how much trash can go through a families household, mine included, we do our best to recycle paper, cans and use less and less bags where possible, its a big task I know, however its so worth it in the long run, mind you they (everyone outside of myself) don't make it easy for those that want to eat healthy and live environmently conscious, but I see it slowly but surely changing. I'm delighted to see finally Ohio has caught up with the reusable shopping bag, its so lovely to see local stores carrying them for their customers, the word has reached us and we're finally listening and it makes me happy. I have purchased a whole bulk of reusable zipper bags similar to the ones sold at Target for our family reunion this year and what ever is left over I'm gonna sell at the local farmers market, why not encourage reusable bags and make a little of my money back as well is what I say, its kelly green and encourages going green. Well the weeks washing is screaming my name to fold them.

Happy Memorial Day All and lets remember those fallen soldiers that have and still battle for our freedom

Lest We Forget

Cheers
r
:)

Grandmothers

Mother's Day this year was a real treat, I decided to host it at my house and really treat my Mother-In-Law and Aunt Tina so Sydney and I planted Gerber Daisy's for them and gave them a beautiful Jasmin Blossom Swarovski Crystal. She didn't want anything for Mother's Day she told Sydney but I told Sydney that that was woman's code for something special and thoughtful from you would be enough. So I put my creative mind into action and came up with a memory book of her and Sydney with photo's of both of them together, I found a grandma book at Hallmarks where you could place special photo's and cute sayings on each page and then for a whole week I encouraged Sydney to draw special artwork in there for his grandma and his real special gift to her was to read it to her, kids will never understand the glory in hearing your own child read to them, we went even further and he wrote a short letter to her about how much he loves his grandma, it was a special gift to sit there and listen to him read his special book to grandma, I could tell she was overwhelmed and the emotion in her eyes reflected all her love and joy towards this little guy of ours, she was so happy and excited and loved her thoughtful present and she told him that she would cherish it for ever, it was fantastic and is a beautiful Grandma memory.

The bonding of a grandparent and grandchild is I believe one of the most important relationships in our entire lives, it helps us with our identities and who we are as a person and the unconditional love is priceless and the bond is for ever, during our physcial lives and most definately in the afterlife. I've been here in the USA now for 10 years and a lot of people even my family ask me why I'm still here since I've come from an exotic place such as Australia and New Zealand, but if you take a look at the photo of my son and his grandmother you'll understand why, him being her only grandchild is a gift to both of them and I'd never ever want to take that away from them, they love one another and need each other and I couldn't ask for more than that. I remember when I was just Sydney's age we were living in my birth country at the time New Zealand and our parents decided that they were going to relocate to a new country called Australia and that we had to leave our families and my most precious grandma, we called her Nana, I remember the day she dropped us off at the airport as clear as if it were yesterday, my brother and I were flying out together on our own as our parents were already in Australia, she took us through to the very last gate and then she wasn't allowed to go any further, we wouldn't let go of her and cried all the way to the plane, she didn't move each time we looked back she was still there until we couldn't see each other again it was one of the most tramatic times of my life leaving her she had such an effect on my life and even though I was one of her 70 grandchildren she made me feel like I was her favourite and later on I found out from all of my cousins that she made each and everyone of us feel that way. We visited her once or twice since we had migrated and she even got to come stay with us for a while in Australia, it was the most memorable times and we loved having her with us, she died when I was 12 and I was saddened when we couldn't go back for her tangi (funeral) but last thing she told us when she was alive is that she'd see us again and she kept her promise, she visited us all in her spirit form and I still miss her today.

My thoughts on Grandma's

:)

The little lady with the grey hair and black glasses is my Nana, she is surrounded by some of her children, she actually gave birth to 20 children and 18 survived. My dad is the 16th child their names are:

Back Row: Left to Right,

Uncle Sonny, Uncle Ali, Aunty Wini, Aunty Queenie, Aunty Tawai, Cousin Michael, My Dad Hira

Front Row: Left to Right,

Aunty Laura, Aunty Ringi, Uncle Doody, Nana, Aunty Annie, Aunty Chrissie.

Photo was taken at my cousin Christophers 21st Birthday I can't remember what year.

My Inspiration

So Sydney and I visited my studio this day, here he is painting his truck to look like Herbie the Love Bug, he's a big fan. I just enjoy watching him zone out and get into his artsy mode. You gotta be careful though, if you sit still long enough hw'll grab you and paint you like Herbie, its the funniest thing, I've never met any child as young as him totally into Herbie, seriously ask him anything about Herbie and he can rave on for eva.












This summer we're getting into growing our own vege and garden patch, its all new for me and we're having fun getting into learning about our green thumbs going. We visited our local garden greenhouse and Sydney got to plant some pansies and his first cucumber seed, it sprouted just last week and so we have to hurry up and get the vege patch prepared, I've always wanted to grow sunflowers as well and so we'll see what will happen, yippe yeah.

Sydney is such an inspiration to me, right from the first time we conceived him he has inspired me so so much and has kept me sane, happy and very much on my toes, I never thought that raising a son would be so so much fun and learning for me and I'm enjoying him so much I just can't stand myself, when I look into his big brown eyes I feel calm and amazed that we created this little human being.


Sydney concentrating very hard decorating his planter



Sydney and the finished product

G'day

G'day G'day,

Well what a day Thursday has been, my first attempt at a blog and where do I start. Well my son Sydney had a field trip to the Columbus Zoo today with his school and I'm really glad that I tagged along with them, no matter how many times you visit the zoo you'll always discover something new everytime for example the most exhilerating moment is when we visited the Gorilla's, well the Silver Back was extra annoyed this day and he was being very protective of his daughters and charged at all the kids standing at the window, it was really scarey, he bashed his giant hands on the glass and sped away with that "don't *#?k with me" look on his face, I tell you my heart jumped out of my skin and for sure that was our cue to move on to the next exhibit, but boy don't you love moments like that. Sydney & Thierry were typical little guy's and relished in the excitement for quite a while. I really enjoyed the Australian section, I guess a little taste of home just really excites me and who knew that they even had a kiwi bird at the zoo, an overall great time at the zoo.

After the zoo Sydney and I met up with my darling Darryl he finally decided that he was going to get his eyes done after wearing glasses all of his life, its absolutely amazing in such a short time how your whole life is going to change, it was weird waiting for him, in just one hour it was all over and we're back home again. Its gonna take us a little time to get use to seeing him without his glasses, I thought they were sexy, however glasses or no glasses he'll always be sexy to me. He's resting now, he has to take it easy for the next 4 days and goes back to work Wednesday so I'll be doting over him this weekend.