Last night I had the special privilege of being able to attend the 6th Annual Affordable Art Gala at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington, which is being held from Friday 31 July to August 2nd.  Wow is all I can say, I don’t think I have ever seen that much art in one place at any one time and, together with all the people there, it’s a large event.

I must say that when I first got there I was a little overwhelmed to be fair, John Key officially opened the event and then it was all on.  You could go in any direction and all the art was displayed in sections around the venue.  What was really funny though was after John Key had opened the Gala, I felt this immense sense of panic too get a move on and find my great special deal for the evening.

What turned out to excitement very quickly dissipated into disappointment, I couldn’t find anything I liked and certainly not when I was under pressure.  There were the seasoned art lovers who were taking paintings up to the pay table, but there were even more of us just wandering around.

What I think I was most disappointed with was the price, I think maybe they forgot to mention to the artists it was the Affordable Art Show not the unknown Artists Art Show.  I couldn’t find anything I liked for a reasonable price and one friend, who has attended for many years, also found the prices very high.   The first year it started she and her husband bought two pieces that were really good for $250.00, for both of them.  She didn’t buy anything either.  If you were going in search of that fantastic bargain you will be very disappointed. 

I loved a ceramic handbag which funnily enough is very me, but had far to much trouble parting with the $1050 they wanted for it.  I also really like another painting but once again had trouble parting with the $3,500 they wanted for that one as well.  There were lots of other paintings that were cheaper but the really amazing deals that were to be had when the show probably started years ago certainly weren’t there.

I did however like the social side of the event, meeting people, the food was fantastic, the atmosphere buzzing and in general was a nice event to catch up and meet people.

This is one of those things that probably when it first started it was great and you could get a really good deal, but I certainly didn’t find it so.  They do however keep replenishing the artwork all weekend so don’t assume all the good ones are gone already, they claim they unpack their work randomly and their piece might just be going on display today.

Don’t forget to take your cheque book, you’ll need it.  The price of most of these paintings you wont have cash for.  Good luck.

Venue:  TSB Arena, Wellington.

  

Isn’t it refreshing when an already well established company finds a gap in the market fills it and very successfully at that.  What am I talking about?  Well a clever friend of mine put me onto this very cool new product range that has just been launched into New Zealand called Za.

Za is the collaboration of Shisedio and Zotos who both have a long and successful history in the beauty industry.  Their mission was to ‘establish a brand for all women who seek new value and lifestyle, who actively enjoy their life and want to bring out their beauty’.  I believe they have succeeded.

Za’s products are rich in vitamins and minerals and the product list is vast.  If you can’t find something to suit you in this range, then you may need to call Madonna who would be as fussy.

The product range consists of Dewy Effect which gives you a natural and silky smooth look, or you could choose from the True white range with it’s advanced technology to help make your skin look more luminous and translucent.  If preventing those dreaded wrinkles before they appear is what concerns you, then the Future Defence range could be the one for you.   Anti Acne range is also proving popular for the younger market, but don’t look past the Special Care Products for treatments which will give your skin the extra boost, especially during these drying winter months.

If none of that is what you are after then don’t look past the Make-up range with Tinted Moisturiser, Concealers, Powders and the Eye liners, Lipsticks and lots more, I am nearly out of breath just trying to read the whole list out.

But I have saved the best for last, the PRICE  it’s positively brilliant as it’s some of the lowest prices for these type of products on the market.  For example the highest price you pay for anything is $29.95 and some are as low as $9.50, what a bonus for me as a Mum buying a future tween her first range of skincare.  Yipee.

I’ve given Za 5 out of 5 which is as you know is unusual for me, but they really have done a very good job with this range and it seems that they tried to cover all possible needs.  I am suitably impressed and would highly recommend it to anyone who is  just starting out using skincare or even for those who are looking for a good quality product, at a bargain.

  

It’s at this point that if you were close to me you would probably want to hit me when I tell you that I am writing this from my lounger by the pool in Fiji.  Yes, in answer to your question, the weather is amazing. I am feeling totally relaxed having had my latest instalment of vitamin D.  I can honestly say I haven’t looked forward to a trip as much as this one and it has definitely paid off.  I am very relaxed and ready to face the world again when I get home.

I have also managed to lose myself for a couple of days in Louise Bagshawe’s latest book, Passion.  I’ve been transported around the world in an exciting chase for survival, fallen a little bit more in love with my husband due to the love story and have decided that I haven’t worked anywhere hard at getting myself fitter in 2009.

Seriously isn’t this why we buy them. These books certainly don’t require you to have a university degree to read them nor do you really need to concentrate hard. I managed to keep reading this over the laughter and screams from my kids in the pool.  But I have really enjoyed just chilling out and no you don’t have to come to Fiji to enjoy the book.  In fact, this could the very thing you need when the weather is bad and you are looking for an escape. 

I read her book Sparkles and loved it, so I was thrilled when her new book came out just before my holiday.  This has also lived up to Bagshawe’s reputation as a great read.  Remember though, I did warn you that it won’t make Oprah’s best book list but it may just make your life just that little bit more bearable on those dreary winter days.

Passion by Louise Bagshawe

 A failed marriage between Melissa Elmett and Will Hyde did a lot of damage. She was too young, he was hurt when she left him. Years later, Melissa becomes the target for a kidnap plot, a consequence of her father’s ground breaking energy saving invention, and Will is the only man who can protect her. Now they’re on the run, thrown together again by the pursuit of vengeance, will their passion for each other reignite?

Avaliable: all major bookstores

Price: $38.99

                          

  

During the holidays it’s always a challenge to find something interesting and exciting to do with the kids and cooking always seems to pop up much to my concern.  You see the control freak in me likes to keep things in order and this activity scares me, as I have visions of food travelling at high speed around my kitchen.  It of course probably wont happen and I really should pay attention to the sticker my eight year stuck to my steering wheel, its very simple reads ‘chill out mummy’.

So as any well intentioned parent would do, I am rising above my children cooking fear and I have bought the girls a cookbook and I think it’s going to help them turn into the next Nigella Lawsons.  But maybe before it does that, it might just help me.  If I am now going to be completely honest, I have actually used it much more than they have. 

The recipes are quite simply fantastic for the less exciting eaters in our house and gives me great everyday ideas of what we can eat.  Seriously I bang my head on the fridge door on a regular basis trying to think of fast, easy and yummy meals which my family will love.  So as much as this is a great cookbook for the girls, it’s an even bigger help for me.

But seriously the girls also love it and has become a favourite gift for their friends as well, you can combine it with an apron or a cool chefs hat etc to make a really different birthday gift. 

You can choose from easy to prepare Nachos, Homemade Hamburgers, Rice and Chicken Kebabs, Macaroni Cheese, gosh where do you stop, um did I mention the Chocolate-dipped treats, Fudge Pudding, Little Apple Pies or Meringue Nests I could go on and on.

Pick up a copy of Edmonds Beginner’s Cookbook and add it to your cookbook library you wont be disappointed, I haven’t been.  It does take away need for me to be really hands on when the girls are using it to cook with, as it’s so simple for them to follow. 

Available:  all major bookstores                            Price:$24.95  (prices can vary)

I am currently away on school holidays with my girls and was tonight trying to do some early preparation for a trip to Fiji next week.   I booked in a couple of days ago at the one of the local Hawkes Bay Beauty Therapy Houses to do those important things we females do before we expose our white bodies to all of the other people seeking sun in Fiji.   I must say I was really looking forward to going tonight as the weather certainly hasn’t been turning on it’s usual Hawkes Bay charm and prospect of cheering myself up a little was exciting.

Now I have been to this place before so I am a bit of a regular there in the holidays, was pretty certain I knew what to expect as the service had been fairly consistent up till now, so it would be fair to say I wasn’t really prepared for tonight to have gone so badly.  It would be fair to say I didn’t feel the love.  Now when you are paying for a service, it’s a service that is pretty standard in most places you would go in New Zealand, and when that standard isn’t met, it’s really obvious.

So it brings me to my point today about our expectations as consumers, in times of recession we should be getting the royal treatment, not the slip, slop, slap, roll her out the door faster than she arrived treatment.  I swear I think I left the place before I arrived and certainly didn’t feel I got value for money.  This poses the question.

Should we be expecting the standard to be high, services to be better and products to live up to what they claim? 

Well I say damn right we should.  The glory ‘I don’t really care if you come back again’ days are over and I say we should be getting value for money and we should all most certainly be feeling the love.  Why?  Because in this current economic climate money is hard to earn and it’s precious.  Oh isn’t this going to be music to my husband’s ears, he’s been trying to get this message through to me for years.

But seriously now, we should be getting the royal treatment, even me the Queen of Shopping herself who usually just says I wont go back there again,  should step up and say this is not ok.

So whilst I haven’t written today on a specific product like I normally do, I wanted to write about shopping in general and what we should expect.

My challenge to you all is to spend your hard earned money wisely, shop around and look for that good deal, they are there to be had.  Everybody is prepared to bargain and I say don’t except a bad deal or service.  This is my new pledge to myself.

We most certainly should be expecting to be treated like Kings and Queens.   Why?  Because a recession is a great way of wheedling out the pretenders and the rip off artists.  Good luck in your shopping endeavours, aim high, spend wisely and keep checking in with me because I will help you do that.

It’s always a happy day when Trelsie has one of her sales and if you have ever coveted a piece of Treilse Cooper and couldn’t get past the price tag, now is your chance. Don’t take too long to think about it, because at 50% off it makes for great “investment piece” buying and it will definitely be “if you snooze, you lose”.

50% off both Women and Kids clothes, at all of her Auckland Stores.  Once again, you are the lucky ones if you live in Auckland.

Note to self, must email Trelise and ask her when she’s going to open a store in Wellington.  We can always live in hope.

  

I was surprised by the fact that reviews have been either really fantastic or really bad.  Why?  How can a show evoke such a contrast of opinion. I mean usually you get a bad review and sometimes a mixed review with the odd average one but not normally very good to very bad.  Uh oh, this may not be a good sign and given I have tickets, could I live to regret buying them?

When I first sat down and the show started, I thought, “oh I don’t think I’m going to like this”.  It’s a show about trains and I don’t even like trains, but worse than that it’s a show about trains and they are on roller skates.  I don’t know about you, but it hardly seems riveting to me and certainly not enough to have pulled me out of my warm and cosy living room on such a cold night.   I know it’s an Andrew Lloyd Webber masterpiece and that it was the second longest running musical in British Theatre, but still I just don’t know,  maybe it will be a fizzer.

But after the first ten minutes and I started to settle into the storyline to understand what it was all about, I realised this was really quite unique and like nothing I had ever seen before.  You get so engrossed that you forget they are on skates, which is incredible in itself when you see the moves they can do and this only adds to wonderment on the kids faces as they couldn’t take their eyes off the stage.  Re-written for his children, should give some of you a clue that this really is one for the kids as well as fun loving adults. I am really glad I went but more importantly that I took the girls, they absolutely loved it.

The show was held at the TSB Bank Arena on Queens Wharf in Wellington, which I might add is not the best venue I have been to.  It seems to lack a soul or an ambience, it certainly doesn’t add to the show at all and coupled with the fact it was so hot in there, it wasn’t my favourite place. It was so hot in fact that it resulted in everyone rushing off for water at intermission and people were seen to returning from the bathrooms with extra clothes they appear to have removed.  Surely a venue like this should be able keep the temperature at a comfortable level and doesn’t require us all to turn up in our togs.   So dress so you can undress as it gets warmer, strange advice I know.

If there are tickets still for sale and you are finding yourself at a loose end this week, go and see it.  It gets a 3 of of 5 for me largely due to the poor venue and how hot it was.  Also we sat upstairs and had great seats.

cost:

Tickets from $45 - $125 plus booking fees.

dates:

Wed 01 Jul 09, 7:30pm

Thu 02 Jul 09, 7:30pm

Fri 03 Jul 09, 7:30pm

Sat 04 Jul 09, 2:00pm

Sat 04 Jul 09, 7:30pm

Sun 05 Jul 09, 1:00pm

Sun 05 Jul 09, 6:00pm

Tue 07 Jul 09, 2:00pm

Tue 07 Jul 09, 6:30pm

venue:

TSB Bank Arena, Queens Wharf, Wellington

region:

Wellington, New Zealand

ticket outlets:

Book Tickets Online