Top 10 Places for Hot Chocolate

Morning Beautifuls,

Whilst out with friends, ordering my usual hot drink of a hot chocolate, a blog post idea dawned on me.

And I felt like I was Einstein. Talk about the best idea in the world (at that second).

Finding my top 8 places for Hot Chocolates. Not only do I get to drink hot chocolates everywhere I go (and I will definitely not be complaining), I can tell you the places I loved when it came to hot chocolates!

So this blog post is dedicated to all those hot chocolate fans out there!

1. Oliver Brown
Yes, they are known for their chocolate, however I was still interested on their drinking chocolate. I was pleasantly surprised at their choices of hot chocolate – Not many places I go give you a option of milk, dark or white chocolate when it comes to their warm beverages. After tossing up for a while between a dark and a milk, I opted for the regular, deciding the dark was for a later date. At $5.50, the fast service and decorative cup were very welcoming. I adore their design technique with the melted chocolate swirl dripping slightly from the side giving it that very homey, warm feeling.
The drink itself was amazing – the perfect temperature and blend of milk and chocolate – not too creamy and not too rich. Just the way I like it. The sizing is also great – giving you just the right amount for that after dinner treat. Perfect!

2. Beehive Cafe, Beecroft
As a completely different hot chocolate, this light chocolate drink is amazing for the days you don’t want anything too sickly sweet but want to warm up with a hot beverage. It is a lovely soft blend of chocolate and milk with a cute sprinkle of chocolate on the froth giving it a very homely style. At $4.80, this chocolate drink is of reasonable price, making its blend of chocolately goodness perfect for those cold mornings and early starts!

3. Pennant Hills Cafe, Pennant Hills
It may not have the most original name for a cafe, but the deliciously warm taking hot chocolate is definitely worth checking this place out. I love that it comes with a marshmallow and sweet biscuit. The chocolate in this hot chocolate is perfect for me, wet without being too sweet, without any bitter taste and the perfect creamy, milky texture! Really enjoyed this hot chocolate!

4. Flower Child Cafe, Chatswood
Yes, I have already written a review about this cafe, however, I feel it would be wrong not to include their hot chocolates in this post as this, hands down, is definitely up there with my favourite places for a hot chocolate. They have the perfect amount of froth on top (and froth is sometimes the best part!) with the creamy chocolate-y warmth underneath soooo good to warm you up on a cold day!

5. Local Collective, Galston
While I was working on one of my intense assignments for uni, I found myself venturing to this cafe to study and drink their hot chocolates. Because they are amazing. I love the chocolate-y taste and the warmth, making the assignment less stressful and easiery to get through!

6. Wolfe and Co, Dural
More hot chocolate-y goodness! This one was super thick and super creamy! I loved its consistency and the warmness of it on the chilly days!

7. Press, Dubbo
This one was slightly on the dark chocolate side, making it a perfect wake up hot chocolate on a very cold day. We even came back here two within a day for their hot chocolates. Once for breakfast and about two hours later for morning tea. YUM!

8. At Home
Yes. Let’s be real. Sometimes there nothing better than using your favourite hot chocolate mix with an extra few marshmallows and cuddling up in your favourite blanket watching TV. Sometimes this is the best hot chocolate you could ever have! Especially when you can use your favourite mug!

Blimey! This blog post has been a long time in the making!

Hope you enjoyed the overshare of hot chocolates! Yum, yum, yum!

Keep smiling,

Kay Anne

Picnic in the Rainforest

Morning Beautifuls,

Yesterday was one of my favourite days in the world – National Picnic Day!

I love picnics – if I could have them every week I would. I love the idea of spending time with family and friends on a rug in a beautiful location munching on homemade goodies and sipping cute drinks while chatting and laughing and catching up on life events. I love the preparation you can do for any picnic and all the different choices and ideas when it comes to food and location.

When I found out that Saturday was National Picnic day, I knew I had to organise a picnic in an awesome location and have a chill day with friends.

Where did I decide on going? Good question. After googling locations in a two to three hour radius from me, I decided that I wanted to explore a National Park called Minnamurra Rainforest – a beautiful, peaceful scenic location a few hours out of Sydney Australia. So, in the slight murky day – yes, it was raining – we packed up the car and started our road trip there.

Boy, was it beautiful. The place was glowing with glorious colours – the rain even stopped once we arrived – filled with rushing water, amazingly bright plants and very friendly lyrebirds. One of my favourite birds ever.

We wandered around the falls and rainforest for a few hours until we decided it was time to find the perfect location for our picnic.

Which we did.

And we loved every minute of it, munching on homemade sandwiches, cookies and cream cupcakes and more snacks than we could have ever finished. Side note – if your country has them, go try Coconut M&M’s. They are the most amazing/weird/confusing chocolates in the world!

I especially loved the apple juice in the Mason jars as it was an incredible way of carrying cute drinks for all of us on the trip and gave a very homemade feeling to the whole picnic. Plus they were delicious to sip on while gazing out into the beautiful rainforest!
Plus, if it is cold, you can always use them for hot chocolates or teas afterwards, just like we did! Hand warmers and a delicious beverage.

I have to share with you one of the crazy stories from the way back – because somehow whenever I go on adventures strange, wonderful, new experiences happen. We were driving home when all of a sudden we stumbled upon a stretch of road that was covered in fog – I’m not talking about the awesome, little bit of misty mystical fog, I’m talking about the I-can’t-even-see-a-metre-in-front-of-me fog. Which, for me, as an Australian is extremely rare. Lets just say in was an experience, driving through this fog like little grannies hunched up squinting out the front mirror trying to see the car in front of us, laughing at how ridiculous our adventure has become but trying to stay serious enough to concentrate.

Which, of course, leads to us missing our turnoff and getting slightly loss.

But that’s the whole adventure, right?!

So, my message to you: go have a little picnic, a small adventure, in the next few weeks. Whether this is in your backyard or a few hours away in a location you have always wanted to explore, go catch up with the ones you love and make those incredible memories!

Then let me know about your adventures!

Keep smiling and Happy National Picnic Day,

Kay Anne
xx

Vivid Sydney 2016

Morning Beautifuls,

Despite the mopey, wet weather Sydney has been treating us with, my friend and I decided to brave the rain and check out Vivid Light Show in Sydney.

The first one I have every been to.

I don’t do large crowds, with the rain creating one big bonus for me as most people decided to stay inside instead of braving the weather and soggy socks.

In the end though, for me, it was definitely worth it!

It was incredible, beautiful, sparkling and so much more that I thought it would have been. There were sparkling flowers, glistening tunnels, a glowing city and many rainbows splattered all over the city.

The Opera House was breathtaking!

I loved the designs that they selected, the Indigenous paintings/lights shown and the multiple patterns blended and intertwined together.

Then there was the paint on the Museum of Contemporary of Art and the other small (and large) light shows surrounding Circular Quay.

Even if you only have half an hour to spare in the city, I definitely recommend checking the lights are Circular Quay out at least, particularly the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and , my personal favourite, Botanic Garden! If the lines are nice to you, the Make A Wish Foundation rocket is also worth having a peek inside. It is definitely not what you will expect, let me tell you that!

Our plan to walk across the Harbour Bridge was quickly forgotten about as the rain began to fall harder and we finally become aware that not a single part of us was dry, even from our (poor) use of umbrellas.

It was an incredible event though, something that I will have to go to more often – well at least once every year when it is one if I can!

Keep smiling,

✨Kay Anne✨

25 Things To Do This Winter

Morning Beautifuls!

As the weather begins to drop and the holidays come creeping closer and closer towards my stretched-out fingertips, I can’t help but find myself eagerly bouncing on the backs of my heels for the freedom that the winter break brings! I guess similar things can be said with summer approaching in the Northern Hemisphere.
However, I always find myself dropping into a cocoon-state during this break, spending most of my time huddled under the warmth of my blankets watching YouTube or TV series day in and day out.

It’s time to put a stop to that.

I have decided that this break will be different (I know what you are thinking, ‘yeah, yeah. You probably say that EVERY break’). This is why I have decided to come up with a list of 25 things I want to achieve before this winter is over. I’ll try to keep you up-to-date as I attempt to achieve all that is on my list.
So here it goes:
1) Have a picnic
2) Get a second ear piercing
3) Have a bonfire
4) Learn a new song on an instrument
5) Cook/bake something new
6) Read a book from my childhood
7) Go iceskating
8) Donate blood
9) Finish a jigsaw puzzle
10) Go somewhere new
11) Go for a walk
12) Try something new
13) Hang out with friends
14) Do a scavenger hunt
15) Try a new restaurant/cafe
16) Play a board game
17) See a movie
18) Volunteer somewhere
19) Wash my car
20) Paint my nails
21) Explore
22) Have a photoshoot
23) Learn French
24) Film a video
25) Write a blog post.
I guess one of these is achieve through doing this.

Now its your turn!! Create your own list and spend summer achieving your own goals!! I would love to hear about your own adventures!

Keep smiling,
Kay Anne.