And a partridge in a pear tree

Is it just me, or does time literally fly at this time of year? Yesterday it was October and I was flat out planning for my first big cake, suddenly it was November and a trip to Melbourne and Toast Martinborough and a big batch of cute cute mini cupcakes, then BANG, December = my first official themed dessert table for a client, a batch of 51 cupcakes with 4 days notice, a late Thanksgiving, and now here we are - 17 days out from Christmas!

Stop, breathe, start again.

It’s been a big week, a big month, and let’s be honest – a really big year. The lovely Mia from http://miafied.blogspot.com commented on my blog today, and reminded me of how long it is since I last posted! And how much I still have in my magical-blog-ideas-Mary-Poppins-pocket of goodness.

Which brings me on to you - to all of you who actually READ this, and follow these random whimsical things I've been doing - which thus far have been working out, touch wood - thank you! I love getting your comments and emails, and fully intend to put more time and planning into this blog for next year! If only more of you lived somewhere nearby so I had more people to help me EAT all the madness I've been creating.

Like these. Teeny teeny tiny little vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing and teeny teeny tiny (excruciatingly fiddly) baby faces for an antenatal party

Look at the little bows, eep

Thank goodness I wasn't actually there for the eating of these, they're FAR too cute. Plus I would've felt mean... look at those little curls!

Another new exciting amazing wonderful thing I totally forgot to share - I finally got a new camera! a DSLR camera. A BIG GIRL camera, like the big kids play with. It's heavy, with lenses and focusing and macro and its own special bag and everything.

I worry that I'll drop it. I worry that I'll never ACTUALLY figure it out

Sometimes I worry if I'm a dufus for hovering constantly over teeny teeny tiny cupcakes with my big big big black camera

But then look! it takes these cute little photos where some bits are in focus and some bits aren't (which might I point out, is probably more the fault of my questionable eye sight, and me THINKING It's in focus when actually it's not. Trip to the optometrist time perhaps?)

Perhaps I shall add camera classes to my ever-growing list of objectives for next year. But then that means less time for baking... such a dilemma!

And I DID just finish spending 2 hours in the kitchen painstakingly rolling and christmas-puddingafying little Baileys Truffles...

I wish I'd been more organised, and thought to start some kind of 12 Days of Christmas blogathon, since I have so much left to share! And since at least some of it really needs to be squeezed in in the next 10 days before I head off to Melbourne for the rest of the year - posting pics of Christmas cupcakes in January feels wrong, much as I wish Christmas lasted all year!

So here is my last-23-days-of-2010-resolution - to get everything posted in the next 10 days (maybe with some sneaky drafts to put up over the holiday weeks!)

Wish me luck! The next 10 days also bring Carols by Candlelight in Wellington, Annual (red-gold-reindeer themed) Christmas dinner with our neighbours, 2 sets of Christmas drinks, my last day at my job, Pre-Christmas-Christmas with my family, a trip to the salon, seeing all the Christmas lights around Welly-town, and a partridge in a Pear Tree!

It's summer for us down here, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for fine weather - what does everyone else have planned in the next few weeks??

B xx