muffins and whales

Valentine's day...all homemade this year. I got the vintage prints from an amazing blog and the little bird from another; add this to some pink and shiny cupcakes and you've got a start to the day so sweet it makes your teeth ache.

To counteract all the fluffy stuff I signed Slap and me up for a days training with Project Jonah, a charity organization that over the years has equipped everyday New Zealanders with the knowledge and skills needed to rescue stranded dolphins and whales. We have had a fantastic summer so far, unfortunately the sun had a day off today and so this afternoon was spent on a cold rainy beach gamely grappling with Lionel the vinyl Pilot Whale. If I'm honest I was expecting to feel like 'Whalerider', the reality was 3 hours in a classroom followed by a roll around with an enormous blow up mammal, sand chafe and a bunch of foreign students. Spiritual, perhaps not? However, it was educational, inspirational and at times incredibly funny, and we are now MAMMAL MEDICS! We have the laminated back stage passes to prove it too.

All in all a fantastic Valentines day, so great in fact that we've decided every Valentines day should be spent outside of our comfort zone. It's Slap's choice next year but I'm hoping that some clever planning (i.e. hinting) will result in a slightly warmer experience.

N.B. This is a day that requires a wetsuit, apparently my dad's rash shirt and a pair of shorts I wear to bed just don't cut it in the whale wrangling fashion stakes. I thought I was looking fine until a well meaning (yeah, right) husband whispered, "Lucky this is Project Jonah and not Project Runway...auf wiedersehn"