On love

I love love love this!!! I always post or share (or whatever) it when it comes up on various social media sites. It's so real and while this is a message to a woman I think its also something a man should understand about a woman. I like this version of a relationship where both parties are still individuals. Where they each have their own stuff and share their lives because they each see something in the other person that complements their life and makes them happy. This message is really special. To celebrate what is good and accept what is human. After all you choose to be with that person and when you think about it they are really the only person you do choose to be that close to you. You don't choose your parents, siblings or even children. Those relationships are  pre-ordained but your partner is your choice so suck it up buttercup :P

x

x

My brain hurts! .. but I have some new jams :)

I saw this documentary at the New Zealand International Film Fest this afternoon. It made me so sad I nearly cried. It's just such a travesty what the Italian Government has allowed to happen. The scene depicted in the picture above was so disgusting. There is giant cruise ship after giant cruise ship pulling up aside the seemingly teeny buildings and creating such havoc in the water that their vibrations are literally causing the city to crumble. It's sick and all of the problems are caused by greed. So much has been sacrificed in the name of money. It really opened my eyes to the effects of unregulated tourism and how I will try to engage with the places I am lucky enough to visit if I am ever lucky enough to. I can tell you right now it will not be on a cruise ship and it will not be in a group of 30 people. 

After the movie I was walking down to my bus and came across this particularly valid protest... I think. They're protesting against a new bill which will allow the NZ spy agency (LOL) unprecedented access to our digital lives. It really made me wish that I was more informed about what's going on. I am pretty angry about this issue BUT I wouldn't say that I actually know enough to form an articulate opinion. It made me feel dumb 

So with my mind whirrrrrring away I have come home to a blissfully empty house and made some of my special pumpkin soup to enjoy when Ice road truckers comes on in a little while. I also splurged on an itunes card and have created some pretty spesh DJ sets with some of these peeps ... so many new faves :-)

*sigh* :)

Last weekend things

Last weekend I did a few cool things which I posted pics of in the previous two posts BUT I realised that I didn't really write anything about what I was doing so here goes ...

Saturday breakfast at De fontein in Mission Bay

This was a pretty cool surprise. I've been to beer-o'clock at the down stairs bar and I've eaten their mussels but I never knew that it was possible to get breakfast here. We had picked a beautiful day and so despite it being the middle of July we sat out on the balcony overlooking the bay. AWESOME start. We started with hangover busting glasses of coke and then on to the coffee. It was totally fine coffee but not amazing or really much to write about. My friend got an omelet which was also a bit underwhelming but essentially fine. I had a raspberry waffle and WOW it was soooooo good. It looked beautiful and tasted perfect. The location and the great service really made this a great experience.  

The average omelet and coffee lets them down a little but to be honest it was such a relaxing and enjoyable experience that I will still give them an 8/10 :)

Matariki celebrations at Orakei Marae (KITE DAY)

This was very cool. The Marae is in perhaps the best location in the city with sweeping views over the ocean. The kite day was a simple event ... literally flying kites on the hill :-) There were a few professionals there with some pretty eye catching displays. What I loved about this was that there were no hi tech anythings and yet the hundreds of people there were having a ball. FANTASTIC.

Rekorderling winter lights pop up pub

I was really looking forward to heading into the pub. It had been all over my face book and blog roll. They had taken over a small corner of down town and claimed to have a bar that evoked a winters night in Sweden  The claimed snow and warm fires and it just sounded awesome! 

I have to say that frankly it was crazily over hyped. It was cool with the fir trees and fake grass. There was a little bit of fake snow falling when you first walked in but I was expecting it to be covering the place. This ended up being the sort of place where young people in their party clothes were sitting on the floor and the giant glasses they served the alcohol in were littering the place. I don't know why I was so underwhelmed. It worked on paper but in person I wasn't into it. Perhaps because it was such a warm night in the city or perhaps because there was nowhere to sit even though the place wasn't packed when we were there... I reckon the problem is that everybody was expecting so much and were determined to have fun despite the fact that it was .... at the end of the day just another pub. 5/10

Matariki lights at Maybury Park in Glen Innes

Now THIS was really really cool. Another free event put on by the local community board that was very well attended by the community. There was a trail laid down around the park and all the way around were sculptures made from neon lights. There was even a mirror ball in a tree which I LOVED. It was really fantastic and as Saturday was the last night of Matariki it was topped with a fireworks display. FANTASTIC. Awesome firstly that it was free and awesome secondly that it was so well attended :)

Silo park markets and dinner at Wynyard quarter

Definitely love me some Silo Park.  The markets were on and at almost every stall was some little treasure that I wished I could take home with me. The weather was awesome and so the beer garden was busy. Such a lovely way to spend some time and again its always awesome to see the public spaces being so enthusiastically used. We went to the fish market for dinner. My friend had salmon and chips. It was so simple - a salmon steak and chips for $18. Absolutely perfectly done and given the price of fish in this country it was really reasonably priced.  I had the kids fish and chips and the first great thing was that they gave me the option to have it battered or crumbed. Again a simple dish but elevated by it's perfect execution. 

Lilac gelato at Smiths in Glendowie

On Sunday I went for a walk around the spit in Glendowie. Again it was pretty fab weather so we stopped in at Smiths for some gelato.  I'd never really had gelato before so it was a very new experience. The Lilac flavour is so hard to describe .. a little strawberry a little minty and perhaps even a little chocolate. Very sweet but not intensely so. .. Quite the mystery but VERY delicious :)

Ginny Blackmore "Bones"

I am LOVING this right now. Ginny Blackmore is a New Zealander who is working out of the United States at the moment. She's written for Christina Aguilera and she's signed to LA Reid's label.

I should probably do a bit more research and find a little more out about her but this is only her first hit (I think ???) so given it's awesomeness I'm sure I will have a very long time to find out her life story and become a giant fan.

Go GIRL! love to see talented Kiwis getting out there :)

True That

random from my friends fb page. LOVE IT :)

Another post about the awesome weekend :)

Here's a few more pics of the rest of my awesome weekend. I've had such a great time and OMG my lovely city has been lovely. It helped I think that the weather has been a-may-zing. I was walking with my friend around a park today in a tank top!! LOL. Of course she was in a sweatshirt but what eves she's crazy it was totally summer today hahahahaha :-)

The beer garden @ Silo Park

@ one of the booths they were selling mirrors. Love this shot of my fave possession :)

My pretty city 

The wynyard bridge :)

Cider at the pop up pub 

Terrible selfie #1 LOL I still kinda like it

Matariki lights at Maybury park in Glen Innes

Dream catchers @ the silo markets

Pop up pub goodness

Wild beasties in the park 

Terrible selfie #2! hahaha The Lilac Gelato from Smiths in Glendowie was Awesome

Kite day!

This morning I went for brunch with my friend Tony before he leaves Auckland to return home to Wellington. We ate at The Belgium Beer Cafe and then went for a stroll. I had no idea that De Fontain did breakfast but it was lovely. I had the waffle and it was AWESOME!. Lucky us it was actually Kite day up at Bastion Point as a celebration of the end of Matariki. COOL :)

 

Mr Tony :)

The people and kites @ bastion point

This guy was awesome! controlled by ONE person!

Orakei Marae is really cool.

LOL gratuitous selfie!

Sky was looking ominous but we stayed dry

More Mission Bay

Mr T and I

Time to move when THIS view gets blah....

Grass shadow :P

Water Shadow in the MB fountain :)

De Fontain balcony on this beautiful winter morning :)

So now after that lovely morning I am off to the Rekorderling Winter Lights pop up pub AND the Glen Ines Lights of Matariki celebration. Apparently there are 100,000 fairy lights in Glen Ines. Cant wait. Gotta find an appropriate level of dress to take me from schmancy pub to family event in the hood hahahahahahahaha 

I love weekends like this one :)

x

Gettin my health on ...

Today I did... NOTHING towards getting my butt into gear and getting my health on. In fact I would say I did the opposite. I currently feel gross and my meals today were a joke! It's not rocket science now is it. Rubbish in Rubbish out! - I did however have some of the protein powder in a drink for breakfast ( I HAD BREAKFAST! Go mE!!). It's not horrible, it's quite palatable even but the taste is still lingering... and its pea. mmm 

I also picked up a script that I'd forgotten I even had waiting. The lovely peeps at the pharmacy called me to remind me it was sitting there :)  check it out, months and months of easy breathing for the bargain price of $5.00! SWEET 

I've been reading a few blogs to try and find some motivation from other peoples journeys and some of the best ... or some of my faves at least are Jessica at Lovely Little Things  and Jana at Perception is everything.  

Neither of these blogs are exactly health & fitness blogs but they're both ladies who have that glow that I'm after and who work hard on choosing a healthy life. They're both a bit younger than me but I'd still love to be friends with them :) -check em out!

x

A life lived for art

Taking Chaaaaaarge :)

Today is Thursday which means.... only ONE DAY of holiday left :( such a bummer and I am really really not ready to go back to university. It's probably a good thing though because I can feel myself becoming very good at being a sloth! I am actually guilty of napping during the day! NONONONOOooo that wont do. I haven't gone so far as to turn the television on before the 6pm news but it's just about that bad!

Queen B announced another show today.. .I think that I'm just gonna do it. If I am able to get a ticket I'm going to see the damn show. Who cares about a life of debt. At least it's only a couple of months till I can get a job and at the end of the day its freaking BEYONCE! Hopefully a friend will come with me but I will be more than happy to go alone :)

Over this break I have done a bunch of things including thinking about what my life is going to be like once I am finally free from the shackles of Auckland University (I know, dramatic, but I really really dislike it!).  I've been day dreaming about small luxuries like a magazine subscription and getting my hair coloured. I have been looking at apartments to rent and online shopping for the most amazing wardrobe. I'm deciding which coffee machine I will buy and what I will put in my booze cupboard... you know all the important things :)

Apart from that I have also been going a little deeper and thinking about how I want to live and how I will choose to be a 'single, professional woman in the city' LOL. The first move that I have made is to decide that it's finally time for me to take control of my health a little more than I have. These days it feels like food hates me, so today I started the journey to figure out why. I visited a naturopath and she is going to do a bunch of research and try to figure out what might be my problem and how I might fix it. What seems pretty clear is that if I ever want to be that happy shiny girl walking down the street that  looks like she's lit from within I have a hell of a journey to take.

I'll have to wait and see what Penny comes up with but from our conversation today and my own experiences it seems like a vegetarian/vegan diet is on the cards along with a crap load more exercise. I have years and years of neglect to make up for! I know from my brief forays into the world of exercise that a hard workout really suits me so I need to get on that as well. I'd like to join a gym but that will have to wait till after graduation. Till then it's gonna be up to me to find alternate ways around the issue and alternate motivation.

I may, from time to time blog this journey because it's really something that is going to seep into every moment of my life over the next few months. I might have to learn to cook *gasp*. Aside from the physical things there are also the spiritual paths to tread. This might be in the form of throwing myself into the available arts scene a lot more, it might be new books or music I just don't know. I love the idea of religion but honestly I don't think that is going to be for me. It's pretty impossible to change a lifetime of ardent atheism. ;-) 

The first thing to do in these confusing situations of course is to ask myself WWBD??? and the answer is of course... WORK HER ASS OFF AND GET THE DAMN JOB DONE AND BE AWESOME WHILE SHE DID IT!!!!  So, I shall aim to follow her example and turn my laser , big picture focus on and get the job done.

x 

The first training walk....

This week it's really seeming a lot more like 'little life little country' but that's OK sometimes. I think it's pretty valuable to on occasion just stay home and enjoy some simple relaxing moments. I am loving the weather and it's allowing me lots of freedom to stretch out like a cat in the sun and enjoy some books and also to really appreciate the gorgeous neighborhood that I live in.

My sister and I have decided that we're going to participate in the cancer society half marathon walk at the end of the year. It's not all locked down quite yet but it's really quite a big deal for us non sporty non participating non fit ladies :) We want to do it for our Aunt but also for every person who is touched by Cancer. Today I decided to put my cold and my laziness to the side and start back on my walking trail. I mean it's not much but you have to start somewhere right?. I really live in a beautiful area and I feel very lucky. I used to walk it all the time and I've taken so many photos of each corner of it but still cant resist getting all snap happy. I love how on the 16th of July there is so much colour still to be found and that there was somebody swimming!!!! He was in his underwear so I do wonder if he might not have been drunk... It's a lovely day but NOT SWIMMING WEATHER LOL ;)

The shots are all a little on the blurry side today but it was JUST SO SUNNY! LOL it was kinda hard to see straight. LOVE IT. Also they're filter free so that kinda makes a difference as well. :)

x

The construction next door forced me from my house!

This morning I was rudely torn from my dream ( dramatic much? LOL) by a group of young men in black hoodies! Nope not marauding criminals but BUILDERS!! First they're 'chatting' with each other outside my window and then the concrete grinder/skill saw starts. I was moved to google 'construction laws in residential areas' but sadly they where within them. So in a somewhat less than perky mood I went into the city to get my Library books and generally just ... not be at home listening to machinery.

'Have a nice day' is from cafe 'Federal and Wolfe'. I've heard about the place on random web sites ect and all to rave reviews. I don't know if it was the builders fault ( ie I just wasn't in the mood) but I wasn't blown away. Must also admit I didn't sample the menu just having a coffee and banana bread while I read some of my hilarious book. I found both to be good but not exceptional. The service again was fine but if anything slightly dismissive. Perhaps I'm not the customer they're after?? I don't know. Wouldn't want to project. It was  trying a little hard and not really getting there for my taste but then all the willing punters cant be wrong. It's obviously to some peoples taste. Perhaps on another day when I can stop for lunch or something.....

The Crown has become one of my fave places in downtown. I've actually only been twice but it's a really good place to go for a civilised and not pretentious glass of wine or beer after uni. Occasionally I get off my first bus and just feel like having a drink before I get on the second one to go home. The Crown is all warm and cozy inside with plenty of tables. It's the perfect mix of people and doesn't make a song and dance about how 'cool' it is. I think that being slightly out of the Britomart precinct is maybe a good thing. It's hard to find a place that I can head to alone and feel comfortable but this is it for sure.