Louise's afternoon tea party

Louise contacted me by email as we were making our way down to Dunedin. She was having a birthday afternoon tea and thought it would be fun to get some photographs of her and her friends before they finish their last year at university. It turned out the tea party was happening on my very first day in Dunedin! Luckily Steven was able to change the plugs over on my battery chargers(!!) in the morning, and that afternoon I headed off to Corstorphine House in Dunedin, an old country house hotel with fantastic views over the city. The hotel serve a huge range of lovely teas in old fashioned pots, with little sandwiches and cakes on silver cake stands. So cute! I will have to take my mum here when she comes to visit.

Louise and her friends were gorgeous, and we had loads of fun taking shots inside and in the grounds.

I'll try and post all the photos I prepared for my blog, but blogger is playing up at the moment so I'm not sure if they will render properly. Here goes!

I'm going to post some photos of the land next. How exciting!! xx

My Birthday!!!

How exciting! Its morning here in Beijing and we were meant to be getting up very early to visit the Great Wall, but when the alarm went off we convinced ourselves that it was going to rain today and we were better off sleeping in and trying tomorrow. Now that we are up its not raining of course. Infact from my position in the hostel lobby here I can see people outside with sun umbrellas. Its almost too bright to look without sunglasses. Anyway, its nice to have a lie in on your birthday.

So, I've reached the grand old age of 29. Which feels great, especially since at the moment I'm still bumming around china and I don't have a proper job, or even a house or a car come to think of it! My present from Steven was a special carved wooden stamp which stamps my name in Mandarin. I had no idea he managed to get one for me! It is sooooo cool. At some point in the future I want to make a chinese style embroidery/painting, and now I can stamp my own name in red ink at the bottom.

Instead of visiting the Great Wall today, we are going to walk around the Forbidden City. Then this evening we are going out for a fancy peking duck meal. Life is pretty good. Plus in just over 2 weeks we are going to be in Hong Kong, which is like Mecca for camera people. I am almost drooling already.

Oh, thank you for your comments below! I'm going to try and upload a video later, although until the hostel instal Steven's new electrical system they have the occasional power cut, so I'll see how I go.

29!!

EDIT: I believe my blog runs on GMT, so I haven't forgotten, my birthday is actually the 15th :)

Steven racing special

It was Steven's birthday this weekend and he went to Thruxton racing circuit to drive some fast cars. Aww.




Here is his dream car, a lamborghini. Its just waiting for him to drive. You have to admit, even if you're not a car person - this is a COOL car!



Here he is waiting to go out driving:



With the package Steven had, you get to drive around in a porche first to get to know the track:



Then you get to go out in a Formula Renault racing car!



And then.... (I love this 'just spotted a fancy car' face!)



Steven in the lamborghini!



Driving the lamborghini!



All that racing builds up an appetite. Here is the birthday meal!

Happy Birthday Mum!

It's my mum's birthday today, happy birthday mum!! Everyone who knows my mum loves her, and with good reason.

Doesn't she look great?!


Here's the cake/s I made:





I love this one:


Mum is off to spend the weekend with her 4 sisters, most of whom are about twice as chatty as her so there won't be a moments silence. Have a good time mum! xx