The Little Things

Recently I’ve done a bit of jet setting around New Zealand for a work trip and a holiday. Well, it was mostly just me flying to Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and then wandering around Queens Street looking for dessert spots.

Each evening that I’ve been away from Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), I have had evenings to practice being still. In those moments of calm, I have noticed that the moments where I have been the calmest in my life is when I was actively keeping a gratitude journal.

If you haven’t kept a gratitude journal or written a short list of things that you’re grateful for in a day before, I encourage you to try it. You might surprise yourself at what comes up and when it does. I have found that some days I focus more on nature – being appreciative for the twinkling of the stars, and the strength of a gust of wind. Other days, I have found that I am appreciative towards people – those who make me feel at home, in the safety of their love and acceptance.

Today, I thought it’d be fun to begin my gratitude practice again with focusing on the physical things that have improved the quality of my life, albeit in small or big ways. I don’t tend to do this often, so it’ll be fun for me and also perhaps give you some fun ideas of things that I have found useful (that you might also find useful). This is also for all the people who keep requesting me to share the iced tea and brownie recipes – finally!

None of these things are sponsored (and I don’t want them to be). For each of them, I have included pictures of them and links where applicable.

🍰Recipes I appreciate & enjoy 🍰

Chocolate cake

Brownie

Peach iced tea

• Vegan chocolate cake recipe by Nora Cooks

• Brownie recipe by Café Delights

• Peach and lemon iced tea recipe by New World.

These are a few of my favourite recipes that I use regularly and tend to be crowd favourites. I love how versatile the iced tea recipe is – you can swap out peaches for strawberries or mangoes (or both!) if you want to try something different. The brownie recipe is also versatile – you can add some incredibly tasty Whittakers dark salted caramel chocolate into the batter (and I have on many occasions). Another classic, is the vegan chocolate cake recipe – you will never go back.

😃 Game changing items 😃

Lint remover

Bottle brush

I cannot express how useful these items are in my life. They are also all items that I didn’t know existed until my friends or family told me about them, often with live demonstrations to have the full infomercial-like experience. I will admit that I do exactly that when convincing people that how much these small items can improve the quality of my life.

🎨 Classes & workshops 🎨

Boob mugs

Cross stitching

Floral arrangement

• Boob mug workshop with niceassets

• Cross Stitch class with Flo Rayner

• Floral arrangement workshop with Juliette Florist

These are the workshops and classes that stuck with me, either because they were fun or because I learned something new. Besides from the skills themselves, I learned about the importance of odd numbers in floristry, how to sculpt clay nipples, and how fun Harry Potter looks like with sunglasses. How joyful!

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I hope that some joy finds you this week, even if it’s in the little things. Sometimes, the smallest of things can make the world of difference.

Unfortunately, I didn’t break the habit of monthly blogging (yet). But there is always another opportunity to try next week 💃

Noho ora mai,

Olivia