The Life of Lola

So, i’m lazy in the blog department!

Truthfully, it’s been a crazy couple of months.

Here’s why.

- After encouragement from several friends, i applied to be a contestant on NZ’s Hottest Home Baker (the tv show). This was my audition piece…

(Cupcake Bouquet, with Spiced Honey Cupcakes w/ Cinnamon Frosting, Cointreau Laced Orange Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting, Wildberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting, and Mint Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Peppermint Icing)

…. I got in.

Flew to Auckland in a whirl, helped on by my amazing friend Mandy, who single handedly organised an amazing fundraiser to help get me there. Sadly, i was eliminated along with 11 others in the first challenge. My milk chocolate fudge/raspberry and white chocolate brownie jenga tower with raspberry coulis evidently wasn’t up to snuff.

- I broke up with my partner of three years, who i have faithfully and lovingly stoodby through his deployment to Afghanistan, his posting to other cities, and the countless times he was away on exercise. It is a decision that has crossed my mind many times in our three years, and being told he didn’t want children or marriage sealed the deal for me. As much as i loved him, and enjoyed our time together - i know that this is the right decision, and am excited for the next chapter of my life.

It’s funny how your life can turn around in an instant. All it took for me was one phone call from a TV show. I think more than the obvious, it really gave me a sense of validation - that i really was good enough for something. I was one of 20 people, hand picked from over 1000 applicants. Now that i am single again, i feel a strange and long missed sense of pride and self worth. This is the happiest I have felt in three years. It has taken this massive change in my life to realise just how much of myself i had let slip into the comfort of belonging to someone else.

I don’t regret our relationship, it has taught me many, many things. It has given me a very clear idea of what type of man i want to eventually find, and made me swear never to forget who i am, or doubt myself ever again. Not that it was all bad, but hindsight is a wonderful thing….

The third thing that has been taking over my time is my launch of my semi-business RubyCakes. So far i have done several orders, and though it is more for experience than anything serious, i love it! It really has awakened a strong passion within me, and i know this is what i was meant to do with my life. My amazing brother is helping me build my website in his spare time, and my friends are helping with word of mouth.

All in all - although it has been a hectic couple of months, i am happier than i have ever been, and endlessly excited for the next exciting chapter of my life. I have also started writing my cookbook! Wish me luck.

x

Well, here we are in another brand new year. 

If you’re like me, the silly season passed in a wonderfully golden hazy blur of wrapping paper, fantastic food, a few too many “beverages” and lazy summer days. I was spoilt by all my friends and family and it really was nice to get away from Earthquakeville (however, sadly our brand new TV is no longer! As it turns out, 6.0 magnitude earthquakes and flat screens aren’t a happy mix).

As is always the case, by the time the clocks tick over to January 1st, people are busy making their solemn new years resolutions, be it to lose weight, get a new job, earn more money, give up smoking etc. We are then bombarded by media advertising to “Join the gym today!” etc. These resolutions are all well and good, but tend to vanish back into the same half-hearted haze from which they came, as not many people really consider the plan they need to formulate in order for these profound epiphanies to stick. I am determined not to let that happen.

I guess you’re wondering what i’ve decided to inflict on myself this year? Several.

- Start getting serious about debt repayment. Enough is enough.

- Start working on fitness levels.

- Find a new and interesting passion in which to throw myself into. I’ve decided on cake decorating and hunting (i.e. getting my firearms license).

I think coupled with it being a new year, it dawned on me that i was turning 22 this January, and i don’t have an awful lot to show for it. Call it my quarter-life crisis if you will. So this time, i’m serious - no, really.

It’s now January 19, and after a fabulous birthday yesterday and a lovely Teppan Yaki meal with my friends - i have turned over a new leaf and am on the right track again (and any other cliches you can think of).

Step one - I have signed up for a Cake Decorating sugarcraft course, starting February 7th. It’s a nightclass one day a week for 8 weeks - i can’t wait! Have been helped along by my gorgeous partner buying me a super cute Kenwood Mixer (i have named her Ruby Jean), and my Mum and Brother buying me the books and tools i need to get started!

Step two - I cut up my credit card (well, one of them). Yes you read right. And man did it feel good. Time to start fixing all the mistakes of the last four years.
Yes, i have proof.

Step three - Fitness, my arch nemesis. I’ve made the bold move to stop driving to work. Yes, come Monday, i will join the ranks of the assholes that i am normally road raging at. God help me.

So like i say, so far so good - let’s see how committed i am in the coming months! What were your resolutions?

Stay tuned. xx

Last weekend i was whisked away to the beautiful Hanmer Springs by my relatively new, but gorgeous friend Kate. We wined, dined, indulged in all sorts of naughty foods, were pampered by the talented masseuses at Hanmer Springs Spa, shopped, mini golfed and generally just had a much needed girls weekend away.

Even though we haven’t known each other very long, i feel like i have known her my whole life, and there’s nothing i won’t say or do around her - it’s just natural. I got to thinking about this, and came to the realisation that i can literally count on one hand, and possibly two or three fingers friends like these who i know without a flicker of a doubt, will and have been there for me through thick and thin, supported me through some horrendous times in my life, and even if we don’t keep in contact for long periods of time, we can pick up straight from where we left off without missing a beat.

These types of friends don’t come along very often, and sometimes i think that because i have been hurt, used and abused by so many “friends” through out my life, that i am not overly open to gaining new ones. I find it hard to make friends with people in the first place, as i’m quite an abrupt and “what you see is what you get” type of person. Also, a lot of people don’t understand my twisted sense of humour either.. But alas, perhaps these people weren’t worth my while in the first place. I am a very cut-throat person, and if i feel someone is becoming too much of a negative force in my life, i cut them out. Life is too short to be unhappy, and the less drama in my life the better.

When you do have the good fortune to stumble upon these rare gems in life, which i have been a scant few times, you would do just about anything for that person, and probably more. I am a fiercely loyal person, and if I can help their lives in any way, or make them just a little bit more enjoyable - so help me i’ll do it. And the same should be true in reverse, should it not? Unfortunately - this is not the case, as has been made apparent to me yet again recently.

Good friends, although rare, are one of the necessities of life I think. If you have them, hold onto them tight.

When i was turned 16, i embarked on the most amazing journey of my life.

No, not the “i’m turning into a woman now” crap, but the journey made from Auckland - Singapore - Frankfurt - Paris. I started my six month student exchange in France.

Now this was a pretty big undertaking, as it would be for anyone. For me, it was the first time i’d been away from home for any extended length of time, and it was even my very first trip on an aeroplane. After an emotional goodbye from my loving mother at Auckland airport, and once the tears dried up (after customs), i was fizzing with excitement for what was to come. I have to add, i was reasonably scared considering i couldn’t speak French. It was about to get scarier..

Several flights later (what felt like 3405839054 hours - novelty of flying wears of REALLY quick), one camera shorter (managed to drop it on the way out of the Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt, thankfully it was returned to me as lost property a few weeks later), i was in the magical and dreamy Paris.

Even though it was January, and it was so cold i felt like knives were stabbing my face - i was in love. I was also hideously jetlagged, so between these beautiful moments of wonder were tearful answerphone messages to my Mum back in New Zealand, telling her how “everything was so confusing, and everyone can speak French better than me, and i’m just so tired!!”

Soon enough, it was time to journey south (by means of TGV), to my host destination of St Astier, Dordogne, Aquitaine, to meet my host family of the train, and start my new French life.

Now i’m not going to document everything that happened over the six months i was there.. but here are some of the highs and lows..

The highs

- The amazing food… bread in particular.

- The beautiful friends i made, both French, and exchange students

- The first time i understood rapid French spoken to me… my whole host family put down their knives and forks and applauded!

- The many, many amazing parties and festivals that always seem to be happening over there

- Week long trip to the French Alps - St Sorlin D’Arves

- Week long trip to Paris to stay with Lucie (who was headed to New Zealand shortly for her exchange). She was the most amazing host, and her family were so lovely. She took me all around the many sights of Paris, and even out to Versailles (one of the best and most beautiful days of my life).

- Week in Pays Basque with my host family, the most interesting region around the very south of France, right on the border of Spain (we actually crossed the border very briefly to do some shopping).

- My last night in St Astier, with my then-boyfriend Axel Feigre. It was Bastille day, there was a massive street party, peach beer (so delicious), and fireworks. We stayed up until dawn telling eachother we’d never forget.

The lows - and any exchange student who tells you it wasn’t hard, is lying.

- My first few weeks not being able to speak or understand. I’ve never felt like so much of an idiot in my life.

- When i was told by AFS i couldn’t go to Germany to visit our old exchange student Simon.

- Being homesick for my Mum, who was battling away back in New Zealand sending me everything she could.

- Culture shock

But through all the tough times, and all the amazing memories - it was the single best experience of my life, and has opened so many doors to me over the years. I now speak French fluently (or as fluently as one can after almost 6 years away from France!), and miss it every day.

I want to travel again soon, so am working away to pay off my squillions of dollars of debt incurred in 3 years at university, so i can put my European passport to some good use!

Vivre Sans Frontières

Today i decided two things.

One. i would start a blog. Not particularly because i think i have anything to say that people will desperately want to hear, but mainly so my family have another means of stalking me. You know who you are.

Two. I will give up the pursuit of perfection, and work towards embracing my imperfections, and rather than dwell on the things i don’t have - appreciate the things i do. How very zen of me. Or cliche.

But in all seriousness, the time has come to make a change. I’m going to consciously make an effort to make interesting things happen in my life, that are blog-worthy.

First on the list - get more hobbies.

When i was a child, i had so many interesting things on my plate. Piano, ballet, speech and drama, netball, guitar etc. Now, i have next to none, unless you count baking - which i unequivocally do. More on that later.

I think the crucial difference between being 12 with lots of hobbies, and 21 with none, is a very driven and proud mother backing you 100% and pushing you to do things that you wouldn’t ordinarily have liked. Granted, i hated ballet with a burning passion - but i still stuck with it for seven long years. Out of fear? I’m not sure.

The one thing I miss most in my life is music. Ever since moving out of home when i was 18, i haven’t lived in a house with a piano in it. It’s only within the last year that i received my guitar back out of storage - and i still haven’t got around to having it restrung! Music was one of the only things in my life that i did for myself, and i loved every minute of it. Not that i was particularly good with reading music, i loved playing by ear, making stuff up and learning to play my favourite songs.

My partner has the most amazing hobbies. Probably because he has the hell fire in his stomach that makes him push himself to new heights all the time. I’m quite envious of this, i would love to have that kind of passion for something. He dabbles in all sorts from mountaineering to digital slr photography and everything in between. He’s inspired me to see what new things i can broaden my horizon with (zennnnn).

So stay tuned.