Things I love About Autumn

It's now autumn here in the Southern Hemisphere and that means it's finally starting to cool down!
Here are some of my favourite things about Autumn..

• The cooler weather - Seriously, I get over the warmth of summer so quickly. There's only so many clothes you can take off (legally)! I love not being too hot and not being too cold.

• The clothes - I love clothes that are designed for autumn. There are so many cool sweaters around! I bought a new one with pandas on the front from Farmers recently that I've been living in while the weather's been a bit chilly (I may or may not be wearing it now). See here for it.

• The leaves - I absolutely adore seeing the leaves change colour and fall to the ground. It hasn't really started here yet but I can't wait until it does.

  

  Yes, that is me. No, it is not recent.

• Warm drinks - The cooler weather means I can have multiple teas again without overheating! And you all know how much I love my teas! I'm also partial to a nice hot chocolate :)

• Snuggling - I love to snuggle, but in summer it is too hot to do so generally (I still do in small doses). I love snuggling with AJ, my blankets, my stuffed animals, generally anything snuggleable will do :D

Travel Tuesday - Birthday in Dublin

So when we were planning our big European trip, I stipulated from day one that I wanted to be in Ireland for my birthday. So we flew there the evening before my birthday and spent the day wandering around and exploring. One thing that we originally wanted to do was go to the Guinness Brewery and the Book of Kells. We decided against the brewery when we go there and saw the prices and all of the tour buses parked outside. We also decided to postpone the Book of Kells to another day as the queues were too long (we went on our last day in Ireland instead - lining up before it opened).
Here are some pictures from the day - I'll caption the ones where I remember where they were.

An awesome street lamp near my Auntie's place

Trinity College

We like this because we're immature 12 year olds at heart

Oscar Wilde Statue, Merrion Square Park

Wolfe Tone Statue, St Stephen's Green

River Liffey

Temple Bar

Dublin Castle

Christ Church Cathedral

St Patrick's Cathedral

Looking in at the Guinness Brewery

River Liffey

An awesome looking childcare centre

I have no idea what this is supposed to be but it looked cool.

My Tea Collection - Fruit Teas

It's no secret that I love tea. It's also no secret that I love fruit. Put the two of them together and you have a winner.
I went to the supermarket a few months ago with AJ and while he was off getting something else he left me with the trolley in the tea section. By the time he returned I had put at least half of the Healtheries fruit teas in the trolley. He stopped me (much to my indignation) and said that I could try other types once I've used up the ones I have. I am thinking of sneaking some more in next time we go to the supermarket though :P

So onto the teas...


Healtheries Tangerine and Orange
I was first introduced to this tea by my Aunty Maureen (RIP) back in 2009. It has the delicious flavour of the citrus fruits though I will warn you that it tastes more of the rind then the actual fruit pulp. It does say on it that it's a dietary supplement which I'd never noticed before (it has Vitamin C in it). I'm a little bit over it now to be honest and will probably not replace it once it's used up.

Healtheries Cranberry and Apple
This has a delicious tangy taste to it that I adore. You can definitely taste both the cranberry and apple. It would be equally delicious cold as hot.

Healtheries Hawkes Bay Nectarine

This tastes like nectarine juice. It is seriously one of the nicest fruit teas I have.

Healtheries Pomegranate and Grape with tangy orange peel

This probably has the strongest  flavour of all of the fruit teas I have. It has a real tang to it that is delicious and really wakes you up. 

Healtheries Tropical with mango, pineapple and passionfruit

This is a great blend of tropical flavours. It's really refreshing when cold so I normally let it cool down before drinking it.

Healtheries Crisp Green Apple
This is the nicest apple tea I've found and I've been looking for a while. It has a beautiful crisp apple taste (as it says).

Healtheries Central Otago Apricot with passionfruit
I was disappointed with this tea. It really doesn't have a lot of flavour at all. Even when left to soak for ages.

Twinings Raspberry and Peach

This drink is a delicious blend of raspberry and peach. It has a really strong flavour that is really refreshing.

Twinings Mango and Strawberry

This is AJ's favourite fruit tea as it has the strongest flavours of all of the teas here. I think it tastes more of strawberry than mango. It's very nice but personally I prefer other teas.

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 13 - Egg

So for this week I originally was going to take a photo of eggs on toast that I had for breakfast - but I was so hungry that I kinda forgot. And now I'm out of eggs.

So I searched the house for anything egg-like - including in books.

And then I found this:

It's a big plastic egg sitting in a mug I didn't even know we had. We don't even have kids to use as an excuse for this randomness....

Travel Tuesday - 10 Must Haves for Multi-Day Music Festivals

One of the reasons we went on our European trip when we did was so we could attend the Download Festival in Derby. It's a 3-day rock-metal music festival but you can start camping 2 days before the festival actually starts. There are some definite must-haves that you need when you're staying on site.

• Tent. You need somewhere to sleep after all. We bought ourselves a cheap little two person tent that fit AJ and I along with a few bits and bobs. Make sure you have something inside it to keep you warm like a sleeping bag or a duvet. AJ and I tried to share one but I kept stealing it (poor AJ).

Me outside our tiny tent

• Drink Bottle. You need to keep your fluids up if you're going to have energy to last the whole festival. There's plenty of taps on hand to fill it up. Just make sure it's empty before you actually enter the music area. They don't like you taking liquid in. You can fill it up inside though.

• Toilet Paper. Take as much as you would normally use for 5 days - maybe even more. The porta-loos tend to run out of toilet paper very quickly. I remember yells from a few cubicles of people who hadn't realised this and had been caught short.

• Hand Sanitizer. The state of the toilets aren't the best - especially the further into the festival you get. You aren't generally able to wash your hands either. So hand sanitizer is a God-send when you can't be arsed trying to find a tap.

• Face Wipes. Or wet wipes. Basically something to help you stay clean. There are no showering facilities. We used some wipes that we got for free on our flight over (thank you Air New Zealand). But they're easy enough to get from the supermarket or pharmacy.

• Camera. To take photos of the awesomeness that is the festival! You also don't use up all of the precious charge on your phone. Just a point and shoot though - a DSLR would be way to big and bulky. Mine is Lumix DMC-FT3 that is shock-proof and waterproof. Perfect for any sort of abuse it might get.

• Decent shoes. You want a decent pair of shoes that will hold up to the tests of the Mosh Pit. You don't want your tootsies all covered in bruises after all. I wore my Doc Martens and they lasted amazingly. They were really comfortable too.

• Sunhat. Before we went to the UK - everyone was telling us that we wouldn't need sun protection when we went over there as 'the weather is always crap'. The fact was - the weather was beautiful. I got sunburnt and actually bought a hat from a stand at the Festival. I do love this hat of mine though. It was only £5!

• Sunscreen. You should really wear sunscreen all day every day (I don't, but I really should - especially with my pale skin!). Keep it in a bag that's close at hand so you can reapply every few hours.

• Rain Protection. In the form of a poncho or something. You don't want anything too heavy as it's usually summer when there's a Music Festival. But something to keep your torso from getting wet at the very least. Especially in the UK when the weather (supposedly) is usually wet.

So those are my must haves for a Music Festival. I could have added things like good company and stuff but those go without saying. I really hope this helps if you're planning on going to a Festival and that you have an amazing time! We loved Download Festival and only wish that there was something similar here in New Zealand. 

Here's some pics from Download 2014

Within Temptation

The view from the top of the hill

They took this down after the first day as it was getting a bit munched

Linkin Park - by far our favourite

My Tea Collection - Rooibos Teas

This week I am going to focus on the rooibos teas in my collection. Rooibos (or red bush) tea comes from a plant that grows in South Africa. I was originally introduced to it by a South African friend of mine and I've been hooked ever since. I've also found many types with flavour additions. The amazing thing about rooibos is that you can all sorts of flavours and it compliments it. And - to make it even better - it's got no caffeine!

Freshpak Rooibos Tea
Normal Rooibos Tea is my go to drink when I want something warm with a tiny bit of flavour. Some people put a spoonful of honey in theirs but I prefer it plain with milk. It has a nice, sweet - almost herby flavour.

Red Seal Chai Rooibos
This is hands down my favourite warm drink to have. As well as the beautiful rooibos flavour there is a soothing chai flavour mixed in. Add some milk and it's the perfect evening drink to have.

Nerada Vanilla Rooibos
If you like vanilla, then you'll like this. Again with the rooibos flavour but with an additional vanilla flavour. With a bit of milk it is a delicious, creamy drink.

Teas Me Mango Rooibos
I don't really like this tea as much as I do other ones. For one, it's got really fine leaves so even using my finest mesh tea accessories, it still leaves bits floating. The taste is quite subtle. You can definitely smell the mango but only get a hint of a taste of it. The rooibos flavour still comes through though.

Tea Total Orange Ginger Rooibos
With this tea - the ginger is overpowering. It's still delicious but you only get hints of the rooibos and orange. I'd prefer more of a mix.

Greenfield Creamy Rooibos
This has a slight citrusy taste to it. Not sure how it gets the name 'creamy' but it's very nice.

Red Seal Lemon and Ginger Rooibos
This is one of AJ's favourite warm drinks. It's especially good soaked with a teaspoon of honey when you have a sore throat.

Messmer Caramel Rooibos
This is seriously delicious and I have to ration in to about one cup a week if I want it to last. It's from Germany and I can't find any similar flavours here. It's like drinking a cup of normal rooibos with a nice caramel mixed in. It is absolutely amazing and I wish it was more readily available here in NZ (a lovely German friend sent it to me).

Messmer Cherry Rooibos
This is a new addition to my collection. It is amazing. It's from the same brand that do the caramel rooibos that I like so much. It has a delicious cherry flavour that doesn't overpower the rooibos flavour. I really wish that we had the brand Messmer here.

52 Weeks of Memories - Week 12 - Listen

I decided to still do the photo challenge this week - especially as AJ is feeling better. Though his congestion has moved down to his chest and is affecting his asthma. I'd actually forgotten that I'd had an empties post scheduled for Wednesday. Lucky bonus for you lot :)

Anyways - here's a pic of our stereo. It was playing Nightwish at the time.