The TWO Party Method (THROW TWO PARTIES IN ONE DAY)

PARTY/PARTIES
For those of you who follow my social media platforms you will have seen that I planned and created my daughters 13th Birthday Party.... and if you know me even a little, you will know that we host 2 parties on the SAME day for the birthday girl. Why you may ask?

HOW TO GET THE CHANGE YOU SO BADLY DESIRE (its not what you think)

You know when you need change so bad you would do anything for it?
I experienced that last year. I would have moved cities or even countries for some change just to feel different inside! I would have tried almost anything, the desire inside was so great! I couldn't stop thinking about what I could do - move, get some different friends, try a new sport, buy new clothes, change something.... Anything!!!!

Love the Change

 

Life has this way of changing and growing - if you let it.
Often we are stubborn and fight it all the way. We don't want to give up the sugar or the dairy or we simply blame the other person for our anger - cause it was definitely their fault for causing us to lash out! But whether they instigated it or not we still need to take responsibility for our actions or behavior. 

HAPPY ALMOST FRIDAY

So when you are reading this it maybe thursday or it maybe friday... or another day. But for me I am  happy knowing that the weekend is almost here (klinks glass- cheers).
Sometimes we look for almost anything to cheer us up or to find a positive spin on our day or week...
Its the little things that make us smile - that block of chocolate or cup of coffee. The thought of time

Life behind the computer screen

Grab a coffee , lets chat...

Because there haven't been much blog posts up (sorry) doesn't mean I haven't been staring at the computer screen alot (think square eyes).
I have been spending way to much time in front of the computer- but for good reason. Partly because I have a job online doing a little social media for 1 company and the other reason is that I recently started studying (online).
I am enrolled and studying Health and Nutrition for 6 months (only been 3 weeks so far),

HAPPY EASTER

Wishing you a beautiful Easter.

I loved styling and photographing some Easter pics for a client. Here I used real eggs mixed with white candy coated chocolate eggs in a tin bowl set on wooden table in nature.

Hope you are having a spectacular time relaxing and spending time with the ones you love.
Of course a good chocolate or two in the mix ;)

Thanks for stopping by. I just wanted to check in and say hi.

Have a great time. All my hellos and smiles

GLUTEN FREE VS GLUTEN FREE AND BEING HEALTHY

So recently I felt like I was the only one not following some sort of eating plan... Everywhere I read  or someone that I spoke to was following some way of eating or diet. It really made me question (again) the way we are eating. Were we wrong in how we were eating in our household? Did we consume the wrong food groups? Did we need more or less protein or more or less carbs?

And of course we are a gluten free and corn free household. So who am I to be the pot calling the kettle black and questioning these sort of things?

But after much internet reading and searching and thinking I've come to realize that:   

Health is an evolution or ever growing state of mind and body.

&

What I ate a year ago I may no longer deem fit to eat now.

CHANGE

If I look back at my recipes from when this blog started to now there are certainly recipes that I don't

Life

Hi

January 2014

QUEEN OF RANDOM

Talking to yourself in your head is a creative process... Or maybe I just tell myself this to not feel like Im crazy!

Personally I like to chat and write nonsense, the problem with writting nonsense is that not everyone

chocolate...

 Hi

The lack of posts = crazy silly madness... You know the kind were you husband is on leave, you have a house to paint and fix, the kid has school project, outings, orals and activities, the emails keep piling in and the cleaning never ends, and you want to fit in a week away somewhere.... well that has been the last +/- a month.

I am just trying to get my digital,online legs back / the pile of emails sorted / photos edited etc...

So please bear with me

I feel so bad for not popping in sooner. BUT brownie points to me for:

• Being able to update the Betty Bake facebook every now and then. 

• Do the occasional pin on Pinterest because who doesn't like a pretty party? or a chic looking home? or creating a cute craft?
• Tweet some crazy food stuff or random thought
• Of course if there was a pretty coffee to photograph or thing I thought was nice- I instagramed it

During this crazy time Ive also learnt to say No sometimes and not feel guilty! - well kind of ;) I work through it and in the end all is good.

What have you been up to?

Hope you are amazingly well :)


 
ps while we were away I did manage to bake the chocolate loaf cake in the pic... hope to share it with you soon 

PEP TALK TO A BLOGGER: Digital vs Real World

Sometimes I just sit down and write - for myself. Then I realised I might not be alone.  

DIGITAL VS REAL WORLD


We live in a digital world... The picture above I made with my phone. Yip, now a days you can take a photo, edit it and write on it with a few different apps and then share it on the internet - no computers involved!

Pep talk to a blogger - The comment phenonmenon

 
As much as I enjoy Food blogging which entails:

1) Making food
2) photography it

PEP TALK to a Blogger

I made this from one of my instagram pics - don't ever forget it ;)

 
Sometimes I just sit down and write - for myself. Then I realised I must not be alone.

Pep Talk to a Blogger:

1) Your blog does not define you - outside of cyberspace and the internet world you are still a million

RIGHT NOW...

 

 Right now....

• I'm enjoying being creative but running out of time to make all the things I want to paint, crochet or create!

RIGHT NOW...

Right now I'm

• Looking at tooooo many travel agent websites and wishing I was on holiday (not very productive for getting work done)
• Im wishing my cup of coffee wouldn't end... Sometimes it just tastes so good
• I want to bake but I have LOTS of work to do - darn, *sigh*
• I'm still loving pinterest far to much! and Instagram too!
• hoping the weekend will be filled with relaxing cups of coffee on the couch and maybe a movie or 2 and possibly a walk on the beach
• Trying to edit photos (but as I said I keep getting distracted!)
• Wandering how it can be the last day of August and the first day of Spring tomorrow?

What are you doing right now?
Do you have plans for the weekend?

Small Changes make for Healthy Eating

Sometimes healthy eating is just a change in how you look at food...

In the past when I ate takeaways and tubs of ice cream and I needed to be more healthy and "diet" I would think "öh great now I have to cut out all this yummy stuff I love!" 
I would begrudge myself and the food I ate. Instead of looking for delicious alternatives I would pout and sulk and be miserable. Years later and many mind shifts later - I see food in a totally different way. I still love a good pizza! but how I want to treat myself and my body has changed in my thinking.

SLIGHT CHANGES:
Its a slight change over weeks and months and even years:
After slowly changing bit by bit - by doing the little things like cutting down on sugar and swopping fizzy cool drinks like Coke! (which is now a swear word in our house) to fruit juice and water.

TRY IT:
Simply buy sparkling spring water and 100% real fruit juice with no additives and mix them together.
So when I felt like a coke I would reach for my "new" sparkling friend - juice and sparkling water and feel like i wasn't depriving myself.

You see its the little things!
I no longer see food as a happiness pile of stuff to eat what I want. I see food as a source of health and yumminess! I want to treat my body right. Once you cut out bad items like coke and soft drinks filled with sugar  and stop eating sweets and candy bars and you feel great - after the initial  detox (headaches and flu symptoms)
I was so ALIVE and happy and well that when I went back to eating a piece of candy it made me feel yuk! It wasn't that that sugar wasn't nice in my mouth but the after effects just weren't worth it.

EXAMPLE:
After cutting out MSG and other additives and preservatives out of our diet for some time (months and months) we went to a braai and the food was taking long. The husband and I were getting hungry and there were bowls of flavoured crisps around so we started snacking. After eating several handfuls the food was finally ready and we ate. Now I didn't have any alcohol of any kind but the next morning I woke up with hangover type symptoms - sore head and felt terrible. Just yukky and wanted to sleep! I realised after a while of waking up and trying to figure out what I ate and drank why I would feel this way and the only thing different were the MSG laden crisps (which we don't eat! only plain salted allowed in our house)!! and that when it hit me - my disgusting hang over symptoms were from them - now I will never go back to eating crisps because I could feel what they were doing to my body!

GOOD HABITS :
I find that changing things bit by bit over long periods of time that I am able to change my habits. If I try change everything at once I feel like I am punishing myself and then I would go back to my bad ways but if I picked one or two things then it was a small change and I would keep doing it. Then after a long time of doing that one little thing it would have become part of my lifestyle (like no more soft drinks) I don't even go to that aisle in the supermarket any more. Actually I rarely shop at a supermarket - but thats another story for another day. I don't even consider it in my head. If someone asks me to bring drinks to a braai (BBQ) I simply buy sparkling water and organic fruit juice. Simple as pie. Really its not even a battle for me any more.

IDEAS:
So focus on something small like:

• Stopping sugar in your tea and coffee

• Swopping soda for fruit juice and water

• Buying hormone free meat and eggs

• Not eating candy - buy nuts and dark chocolate (70% cocoa and higher)

"Eat cake if you bake it yourself and can limit the sugar and additives"

WILL YOU TRY IT?:
See if you can change that one little thing for 2 months and then consider swopping another thing and another thing. Eventually in a year or twos time you will be a healthy, whole food, happy person who doesn't even crave the bad stuff and is happier for it!
Just try it
 
We still eat really dark chocolate and nuts and i bake cake-but I use gluten -free flour and only a tiny bit of sugar. See what I did swopped out  unhealthy for healthy) 


What changes have you made in your lifestyle to be healthier?

Things that make me Smile

 
Life is a happy place when I reflect on the good and happy places in my life. It makes the craziness more bare-able:   

• watching funny you tube videos will make time fly and then you'll realise you were meant to be working!!! ;)  
• Coffee and chocolate make me happy each morning - its the little things
• being creative seems to fuel me ... drawing, editing, creating stuff... :) 
• Just sitting in the sun with my cat 
• Happy songs played REALLY loud (its the loud part that important)
• Beautiful sunrises and still evenings with dramatic winter sunsets
• A well baked chocolate chip cookie
• Getting a note  from my kid saying "you are the best cooker" (cook)
• Reading a good tweet and laughing
• Getting through a bunch of things on my to-do list done!

 What is making you happy and smiling at the moment?

Making me smile...

 

Life is a happy place when I reflect on the good and happy places in my life. It makes the craziness more bare-able. hope you like my list:  

• Beautiful flowers no matter the kind always make me happy - my home has a bunch in almost every room!
• Achieving the little things - whether its getting through a sink full of dishes or ALL the emails - getting tasks done makes for a happy accomplishment
• Smiling at a stranger
• Singing loud while listening to music
• Having fun and tickling my daughter and listening to her laugh 
• Acting like a goof ball every now and then ;) 
• Eating well and feeling healthy
• Seeing my blog linked on other blogs - so kind
• Eating chocolate

What is making you smile at the moment?

A bloggers journey :: Is it really worth it? >>from no where to foodie?

Recently I have been wanting to incorporate more about myself into my blog.

You see when I started writing this blog I never dreamed people would be reading it and I simply just rambled on about what dinner I made (with a bad photo alongside) - often not even posting a recipe. Those were happy days.
Don't get me wrong - I wanted people to read my blog but I felt no pressure to make brilliantly written posts or take great photos, I simply just chatted and posted whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
Then over time and reading other blogs I started to see beautiful blogs with thousands of readers - and oh boy did I want that! (Bloggers who got paid!) So I upped my game to better photos and started posting more recipes and less about stuff I liked. I decided if it wasn't about food it didn't belong on here. Then after some time I was invited to my first press launch and also went to my first review - YAY! I loved it! I felt so glamorous and important..  But along with those feeling I also put pressure on myself to make my blog more professional so I tried harder at my photos and only posted recipes. (No more me at all). Im still not a hugs blogger but quite a bit of time has passed and now when I look back I realise that I am blogging for different goals and some are good but a little has been lost. I am grateful for striving to take better photos, really I want to be as great as I can be. I love photography so it is to my benefit. but along the course of writing - I never knew I would enjoy writing (i didn't like it at school) but I have found it can be a creative outlet and I miss just rambling.
In a nutshell blogging has been great and I have had so many opportunities come through this little blog but I am not as happy as I first was when I first realised non family members and people I didn't even know were reading my blog - WOW (it was my first blogging thrill)
Then when companies contacted  me I was so flattered. I would have agreed to write anything then. (not any more) I have learnt so much about ethics and how to portray myself through this journey.
But most of all I have learnt that me being happy is best for me and this blog - otherwise its not fun and its not worth it.
So I have decided that if I loose invites to fancy events and followers that's tough... I should be happy. So more rambling, less seriousness but im sure there will always be FOOD!

Hope you'll still read ;)

Do you blog? do you put pressure on yourself?

Awesome Tea anyone?

Sometimes I want to come up with the most awesome recipe ever made ... but then I sit and stare at a blank computer screen for hours wandering what hasn't been done before... still wandering. .. *long silence* ... Then I realize my head may not be able to actually come up with the weird concoctions of peanut butter and olives or something random that could be the next craze! I mean really fashion seems to repeat it self with a twist and I feel like food maybe doing the same thing.
So while I am NOT the new and crazy trend setter I hoped I would be - I am still me :) and I do like to write silly posts and photograph food. - yes a random fact I'm sure you noticed.

So while this is a recipe-less post (sorry)
I just wanted to say .. I have been thinking of you *hi* and my lack of awesomeness and that I will work harder to write down and then bake some random food cookies and photograph them... then hopefully you'll drool over the picture and decide to bake them :) 

Have a happy weekend


 
ps I did make this really yummy milk tart but didn't write down the ingredients amounts so I will have to make it again so I can give you the recipe - OK?

pps Do you ever feel like you want to do things differently? blogging? life? or?