Yep, another birthday posts where the blogger complains about getting old and OH MY GOD I'M GETTING CLOSE TO 30!

But before I scare you off, I should let you know that I'm actually excited for the second half of my twenties. I mean, 20-25 has been a journey of university, travel and figuring out what it means to be an adult. What I've actually come to realize is that no one really becomes an adult in these years. And hardly any of us actually have a plan, or plans that work out perfectly. If we're lucky to find a passion along the way that might carry us down a different path than we thought. I've definitely become more of who I'm meant to be through starting this blog. I know people say technology is bad blah, blah, blah. But I get such a thrill out of creating content, making friends who live on different continents who share my passion, and just finding a place in an online community. It's made this part of my twenties so satisfying and feeling like I'm on the right track. 

25 was an eventful year when I look back at it:

Moved in with the love of my life

Completed a Spartan Race

Survived another natural disaster

Lost our old boy Bud

Progressed a lot in CrossFit

Hawaiian family holiday 

Starting the process of getting our puppy

Photographed a wedding

Competed in a rowathon for charity 

Took at least three road trips

Started a new job

Renting for the first time

Came 3rd in my first CrossFit competition

Overcame a knee injury

And ate about 20 Dominoes pizzas...

At 26 I can honestly say that I'm happy. Is my life where I would ideally want it? No, but who actually has their sh*t together completely at any given time? So we may not have much money left at the end of the week or I'm not blogging full-time, but life is still good! Great even! 

I have a beautiful home that I share with the most amazing guy that completes me. It's the exact direction I wanted my life to go in a year ago and I'm bloody happy with how it worked out. I have been able to create work hours with my boss that suit my lifestyle perfectly so that I can still blog and cook during the day. And my amazing Mum still buys me veggies and bakes me banana bread. Bless her. 

I think what I'm most excited about though, is that these coming years are going to be the most exciting. This is the time when I will get to plan a beautiful wedding that I've dreamed about since I was little. Not to go all cheesy on you, but this girl has always been obsessed with all the details before and on the big day. And babies have been on my brain lately (not yet people!) so it's nice thinking of having a cute little family in my later twenties. 

No rush for either, but just knowing that some big milestones are on the horizon is pretty cool. I'm looking at all those cute pictures on Pinterest thinking, "Yup that's gonna be me later!" 

Here's to the next four years of my 20's and whatever adventures that come my way. 

I'll be ready for them <3

Steph x. 

How did you guys feel getting past 25? 

Daily Blog: The Best Mexican & Gingerbread Cookies!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

My body clock can never sleep past eight, so I'm up at a reasonable hour this morning. I wasn't able to post my second day of blogmas, so it's pretty much the first thing I'm doing this morning. I was in the sun far too much yesterday and ended up being really dehydrated. But my amazing boyfriend took care of me and I'm feeling a lot better today. 

Advent calendar time! Yes, it's a Minion one and I love it. 

It's going to be another hot day today, so I'm watering my garden early. I planted some tomatoes a few weeks ago and they're going great! I'm slowly learning some gardening skills from my Mum and hopefully will be able to produce something at the end of it. I usually can't keep plants alive, so I'm proud of how it's growing!

I'm not super-hungry this morning, so I'm not making a huge effort with breakfast. I was craving toast so I had some with banana. And yesterday my Mum was lovely enough to buy me a paleo/gluten-free salted caramel muffin from our favorite smoothie stop, which should fill me right up.

CrossFit HQ are doing a worldwide Lift-Off competition for all of the affiliate gyms, so I headed down to check out everyone from my box who was competing. I'm not confident in my lifting skills yet and my body is wrecked this week, which means I just wanted to be a spectator. But maybe next year I'll try!

I had to leave early so that I could get ready for my birthday lunch! My Aunt and Uncle are driving up to see us and we are going to my favorite restaurant. Really looking forward to eating lots of delicious food!

(side note: one of the rare occasions my hair isn't in a pony tail and gym clothes are no where to be seen.)

The tacos here are amazing and this time I got the turmeric prawn one that came with a mango salsa. It was so so good, but that was only my starter. Next came mushroom and leek chimichangas and oh wow were they awesome! If you've never had them, they're a filled tortilla that's been wrapped and fried, then served with a dipping sauce. Highly recommended! 

You can never leave without devouring some of their churros. Still not up to the Disneyland standard, but they're pretty damn good. 

I had some free time when I got home and thought I'd get all festive by making gingerbread cookies! There's a recipe I've been wanting to try out and maybe put on the blog this month.

So far, so good, although the recipe seems a little dry.

OMG the house smells so amazing! It's the best thing about baking cookies. They taste pretty good too!

Mum and Dad came over and brought me these adorable cupcakes :) They wanted to make sure I had cake for my birthday tomorrow. Of course they got me the one with the dog on it!

Steve came home from work and then we decided to venture out and see if we could find balloons for my birthday. Our first stop was unsuccessful and we got a little discouraged. But we went to the supermarket for dinner ingredients and found them!

We are having pizzas tonight, which I haven't made in a while. Steve loves them and I think the secret is these garlic filled pita breads. Here's how I do it:

Start with a really good pizza sauce base

Add a base of cheese

Then top with your favs (veggies for me/ a mountain of meat for Steve)

Top with lots of cheese, a sprinkle of dried oregano and bake until crispy!

We made a little blanket fort to get all cozy and eat our pizza in while we watch a movie. It's a perfect Sunday evening!



I hope you enjoyed Blogmas day three! I promise there's Christmas-themed posts coming.
Hope you're all having a fabulous December so far!



Steph x. 

My 25th Birthday: Fantastic Beasts, Churros, & Paleo Cake!

Wow, 25 huh? 

My twenties so far have included me getting an honors degree in classics, traveling to America each year, getting tattoos, becoming a fitness-nut, and working tirelessly on turning Hello, Steph into some kind of business. Nothing turned out the way I thought, but I couldn't be happier about it. I do what I love every single day and even though I'm not in the position I'd like to be, I'm on the road to it. I'm making the most of these years to be a little selfish, have adventures, and make some memories. 

I know I should have done something special for my 25th, but since my back account said no to a weekend away in Italy, I decided to keep it simple and do it in a very typical-Steph way. I celebrated with good friends, amazing food, and the best family.

Get a tattoo

You've probably seen me posting my newest addition on Instagram/blog and how could I not? I apologize for the spam, but I love it! I gave my tattoo artist Kieran a simple design of a lion's head and he managed to turn it into this beautiful piece of art. I'm going to be posting about all of my tattoos with their meanings next week, so I'll explain it more then. This was my birthday treat to myself, just like my jaguar that I got on my ribs last year. A very painful way to celebrate my birthday, but I couldn't think of a better gift to myself.


Time with my girls

Adult life makes it hard to spend enough time with good friends, so of course I had to have a catch up over coffee and cake. It can be very therapeutic to talk about anything and everything with the girls I grew up with. I had to cut it short by working a shift, but we met up later in the night to go see Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. I loved it so much the first time that I was dying to see it again. Luckily my friends felt the same and we all enjoyed it. Newt is definitely my favorite character from the HP universe and he makes me proud to be a Hufflepuff.


Lunch at my favorite restaurant

Christchurch has quite the food scene, but there's one restaurant I keep going back to called Mexico. It's located in the centre city surrounded by empty lots and buildings being held up by supports (so basically earthquake ground zero.) But this place has done exceedingly well and I came here for my 24th birthday too. The make the most amazing range of margaritas and the food is incredible. I eat something different each time because they make menu changes regularly. Today I went for the prawn tacos with mango salsa and a plate of guacamole. I also stole some of my Dad's spiced squid because I was dying to try it. I couldn't leave without one of their cold brew coffees and churros! They don't do them as well as Disney (an impossible task) but they're pretty darn good.


Paleo Birthday Cake!

I didn't expect any kind of cake this year, but I was surprised by my Mum who found a great recipe for paleo chocolate cake. Isn't she the best! It's all made the things like spelt flour, almond meal, coconut oil and cacoa powder. It was delicious and don't have to feel guilty for eating it!


Beautiful Gifts 

I feel very spoiled this year by my loved ones. I received quite a few lovely things that have been on my wish list, but could never spare the money for myself. The first was a new pair of training shoes, CrossFit ones to be exact! I usually just recycle my old running shoes for training, but that's not always a good idea. I went for Reebok since they are THE ultimate brand for CrossFit and knew they would serve me well.

My lovely friend Sarah gave me an Ecoya candle (the best you can buy!) in the scent "Guava and Lychee Sorbet." I promise you that it smells as amazing as you'd think. I actually picked this up while shopping with Mum the other day and reminded myself to buy one soon. My room is going to smell so good!

My other beautiful friend Haley brought this incredible Time Turner necklace for me. It feels like the real thing and I put it on immediately after opening it. She got it at a convention for me since she knows how much I love all things Harry Potter. When I'm not wearing it, I will place it next to my Hermione wand.

My parents surprised me with two more gifts: a super-comfy dressing gown with ears on it, and the Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them Screenplay! I have seen this book floating around Instagram for weeks now and have been dying to get my hands on a copy. The cover and illustrations inside are just stunning, especially the creatures at the start of each scene.

A big thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, I really did have a lovely day. Twenty-five years certainly have gone quickly, but each year seems to get even better. I'm still not sure how I feel getting older, but I'll just keep doing what makes me happy and see what the years bring.

Steph x.