You know I always love a bargain and this is definitely one of my most favourite Sales.  I would hate to think how much I spend a year on buying cards for birthdays, special occasions and Christmas.  So I always leap at the chance to get them at half price. 

This does actually save me alot of money during the year.  You’ve only got to imagine how many birthdays parties my daughters go too, to know this Sale for me, is not to be missed.

Thursday 18 February – Sunday 21 February  Nationwide

  I couldn’t help it, saw it in the shop.  Got it home and then thought oh I so hope hope this doesn’t turn out to be a fizzer of a present for Christmas.  I bought, in my infinite wisdom a cupcake maker for my nine year old daughter for Christmas.

Now I can hear you saying why on earth would you bother with a cupcake maker when you can just put them in the oven.  Even my husband looked at me as if I had finally gone mad.

“Excellent another appliance we now have to find room for, wouldn’t buying her a cupcake tray be easier and cheaper”

Ah so to all you that think he’s right, wrong.  Its fantastic and will most likely turn out to be a very useful kitchen appliance.    So why is it so great?

To start with, it was multicoloured and a fun design, not like the normal appliances you can buy.  It can make big or small cupcakes, has a non stick surface and they are ready in  minutes. 

I knew she would like it because it was right up her alley of things she likes to do, but you always think they look good on the box, do they actually work ok.

Well we had our first taste of ‘Cupcakes by Maddy” at the beach at Christmas and they are fantastic.  Seriously they were so nice I wanted more and everyone else was also very surprised as to how good they were.

It has a ceramic centre and you just lift the lid spray inside to stop the sticking, put mixture in and close the lid.  Ten minutes you have perfect cupcakes, all cooked.  Even my Mum who is an amazing baker was impressed.  The best part is if they can follow a recipe on their own then they can do the whole process by themselves.

Now this gets a 5 out of 5 and you know that’s high for me, but this truly is a great product. Oh and did I mention its a piece of cake to clean.

Available: Briscoes, Moore Wilsons, Bond & Bond, Noel Lemming            Price:$129.00

  One of my highlights during all the Christmas rush last year would have to have been the Christmas parties that I was invited too and without doubt I know which one was the best.  Tucked away down the end of a road at the bottom of Ngaio Gorge, is headquarters  for Vision Media Systems and can I say they throw fantastic parties.

As I walked into their building it was like entering a private nightclub, it was amazing.  Up the front was the huge stage with a band, on two separate walls were massive big screens which had crowd scenes on them and then there was the casino tables if you were feeling lucky.   I didn’t know which direction to go in.

But I have to say I had the most fun when Elvis made his stage appearance and they said he was dead. He is most certainly alive and well and lives in Wellington.  Elvis rocked the roof off and Viva Las Vegas was born again.  The dancing girls dressed up in these incredible costumes which just added to the whole atmosphere, but it really did help that Elvis had made this personal appearance especially for Visions Media Systems.

I was really impressed with how professional the stage show was and could quite happily have carried on till the next day with them.  Have I also mentioned how fantastic I am at singing in a noisy room.  Who knew I was that good.

Needless to say the best party to be held in Wellington had to finally come to an end.

I hope they don’t forget to invite me again this year.

In the meantime if you need anything to do with the hireage of AV Gear, helping you to make your party fabulous, DJ’s, staging you name it,  these guys can do it.  Why didn’t I know them when I was trying to plan my last big party.  They will be on speed dial for this year’s one.  Have a look at their website.

And don’t forget they have Elvis’s phone number and can hook you up.

Check them out on http://www.visionmediasystems.co.nz

PHONE:0800 Audio Visual
(0800 28346 847)
+64 4 473 8120               Fax: +64 4 473 8117

ADDRESS:
Unit 2, 13 School Road
Kaiwharawhara
Wellington
New Zealand

POSTAL ADDRESS:

PHONE:
0800 Audio Visual
(0800 28346 847)
+64 4 473 8120

  I did it because of the kids I promise, really they begged me and apparently according to my girlfriends, I am a soft touch.  I give in to everyone requests which includes my children begging for a new CD.  So I bought the new Stan Walker CD, winner of Australian Idol.

Now to be fair I wasn’t a big fan of him on Idol, to be honest I wasn’t a big fan of anyone  on the latest Australian Idol.  I thought they were all a bit low rent, not that my opinion counts when it comes to singing.  They would have to be tone deaf for me to make it past the first audition.  But seriously we all have seen enough of these shows to become Simon Cowell stand-ins.  I did think at the time, is this the best that Australia has to offer?

So it really hasn’t come as a big surprise that the CD has turned out to be a big fizzer for me.

I have to say Purple Rain has always been a song I loved even if I hadn’t heard it for years, but the real kicker would have to be one of my all time favourite songs was ‘Hallelujah’ sung by Lenoard Cohen.  Now there are some things that just shouldn’t be touched, to say he killed these songs would be being nice. He damn well murdered it.  He starts off so low, to low for him and its hard to decipher the words, it gets better as he goes on but really not much.

The girls initially thought that I was being unkind until they heard him sing the ‘Climb’ song which Miley Cirus has on her latest album.  Whilst she may have been marketed to death, she can at least sing and has quite a distinctive voice.  So once again why try to rerecord a song that she sings and is really popular.  Ugh I know he sung these songs on Idol but that doesn’t necessarily make them great choices for an album.

The only positive on the CD has to be his song ‘Black Box’, this I do concede is sung well and suits him.  Don’t get me wrong I am all for people triumphing over adversity which he clearly has and should be proud of that.  But I have really been disappointed with the album and am surprised the so-called experts advising him have released this rubbish.  Stan can sing but it just shouldn’t be some of these songs.

Available: all leading record stores, The Warehouse             Price: $34.95 (pricing varies)

Track Listing:

1. Purple Rain
2. The Climb
3. Man’s World
4. Ordinary People
5. Let’s Stay Together
6. Hallelujah
7. Superstar
8. We Will Rock You
9. Think Of Me
10. Black Box

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you have seen some sun and had a relaxing fulfilled time with your family and friends.

Apologies for my absence, but I have been away on holiday and decided that this year I would take a break.  I wanted to spend the time thinking about where to from here.  What do I want to change on my site?  What can I add to make it even better?  What else is helpful to you?

I have always wanted this site to be different, honest and helpful.  To make your everyday buying decisions easier and 2010 is going to be a better year for us all, so how do I make my site better?

Well I think I have some of the answers to these questions and over the next few months you will see some changes.

My new ‘Product Testing’ section which I am adding will be interesting, I will be making small regular posts on products I am trying out. You will be able to track the progress of those with me.  I am currently testing a new Face Cream, my new phone and this really wizzy new ‘I can make you look ten years younger’ face machine I got for Christmas.   Funny, I am either going to end up looking like Cindy Crawford or Herman Munster, wish me luck.

Another change is going to be the new Community aspect of the site which I know you will all love.  I get so much feedback, helpful tips and really useful information from you, I want for you all to be able to share your good advice with each other.  So you will be able to post your hot tips on the site whenever you find a great buy or have a favourite product you have been using that you love.

I am going to add some photos of me, so you can get to know me better.  Also I will have more product giveaways this year as well.  So it’s all very exciting.

I have in my travels over Christmas and New Year found some great things to share with you all.  I have discovered a few ‘hot buys’ and a couple of ‘not so hot buys’.  So keep checking in for those.

I am also going to launch my new and very exciting project in the next few months.  So stay tuned for that.  2010 is going to be an exciting year, action packed and probably a little scary for me, but more on that soon.

2010 is going to be a great year.