Why didn't anyone tell me!

So last week after a month of having one kind or cold or another, I felt like going on a bit of a health kick. I'm pretty good at eating fairly healthy home cooked meals but my weak spot is my sweet tooth. I decided for once instead of fighting my love of sugar I'd look for healthier ways of enjoying sweet treats without so much guilt. That's when I stumbled across this recipe, Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding. Apparently Chia seeds have been the darling of the health food world for a few years. They are high in protein, fiber and all kinds of different vitamins including B.

The best thing about Chia seeds though, is when you leave them in liquid they swell up and turn to a gelatinous texture with a crispy center. The texture is a little unusual but I quite like it and once it tastes all sweet and chocolatey, well who am I to let some weird texture get in the way of eating some yummy pudding.

Here's the recipe for those who are as behind the times as me. It was taken from food doodles blog but I've added cinnamon, because I like it and used honey instead of maple syrup because it's half the price here in New Zealand.

• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 C  unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together well. Put a cover over it and leave for 20 minutes. Eat. It really is that simple. The phase too good to be true springs to mind.

Quick note to say sorry for the terrible phone photos but to be fair it does taste better than it looks.

Busy having birthdays!

Oh dear it's been far too long between posts. I'm not sure why maybe just a lack of exciting news to write about. Here in Dunedin we have mostly been trying to keep warm and dry. I'm very pleased to report winter is over and we now have some much needed sunshine.

'Dear Colleen' is ticking along. Back in August I had a fun/stressful (I hate being photographed) photo stoot for one of my favourite New Zealand publications, so I'm very excited for that to be on the selves towards the end of the year. I'm slowly working away on a handful of new designs including an idea which I've had sitting around in sketchbooks for over a decade. Hopefully these will be ready for release mid/late October. 

My boyfriend Scott and I also celebrated our birthdays (hence the title). We both had lovely days, Scott spoiled me rotten on mine and bought me this beautiful yellow cambridge satchel from the wonderful Wocolate. 

But I digress! I was actually writing about birthdays so I could share the magical custom toy I had made for Scott by Melbourne base artist Cat Rabbit. Chances are you've already heard of her but if not you really should check her work out as it's amazing. I asked her to make a rabbit toy portrait of Scott wearing his teen wolf tee and our dog Castro as a fur hat. This photo doesn't really even beging to show how amazing it is in person. The thing is, it's really hard to photograph as Castro is obsessed with it, I think he's itching to tear it to shreds. Maybe he just objects to being turned into a fur hat!

Really am sorry it's been so long between posts. I have a couple of things I would like to share in the coming weeks so I'm promise to write again soon.