We're deep into winter and there's little motivation for most of us to get stuck into the garden, but then again we're not 'true' gardeners. True gardeners are the ones with the green thumbs and love being out in the garden no matter the weather. They will find any excuse to dig in the dirt and pull the weeds.

Do you know someone who has been bitten by the 'Master Chef' or My Kitchen Rules bug? You know who they are. These are the people that are obsessed with watching these shows. Whatever you do, DO NOT interrupt them while they are getting their cooking fix. They no doubt will record the shows for analyzing later and then will try and recreate (or improve) these recipes in their own kitchen? 

In the time of Facebook reminders it's pretty rare for someone to still have a ‘Birthday Book'. Remember those? One of those little calendar books your Mum or Nana used to have that listed birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other notable events to celebrate.

When you work with all these fantastic gourmet gift baskets it really is hard to choose a favorite, but I particularly like this one -- The Family Favourites basket

Why do I like this one? Because it's a taste of New Zealand, and it makes everyone in the family happy, plus it makes an excellent gift for non-native New Zealanders. Ok, so Pringles aren't very 'Kiwi' but they sure are tasty!  Show me a kid (or adult) who doesn't like Pringles, I dare you!

While Christmas is a lovely time of year filled with  BBQ's, sunburn and gift giving, it can also be a stressful time. For some of us it seems to sneak up and has us crying because we've overspent! If we can get a handle on Christmas now, you won't be looking at your credit card statement in January and wishing you'd been a bit more frugal. Plus  of course if we start planning now it will mean less stress for you when it gets to December.