A weekend away with the man

This past weekend was Easter and Tony and I went to Hamilton ... yep. Hamilton.  It was amazing weather and honestly every time we go down there I have an awesome time! I never thought that Hamilton would equal fun and relaxation but there ya go 

It's SUCH a pretty drive. I love driving through all the country side and it was so nice that this time it was pretty much green. Often at this time of year its all brown after a long hot summer. We had the most relaxing breakfast ever in the most relaxing cafe I've ever been in ( The Kaimai cheese company). Then it was time to hit up the Hamilton Gardens with Taiga!! My nephew is seriously the cutest thing in the world. He got a hold of my phone and when I put the front camera on he LOVED it and took about 50 photos of himself. LOL

On Easter Sunday we went to see Fast and Furious 7 at the XTREME screen at Te Awa. Firstly they are the flashest theaters I've ever been in, just luxury and cool personified and secondly, movie review to come. After that we went all hunter gatherer in the name of lunch which is a lot harder than it sounds when you take NZs archaic Easter trading laws into account. We happened upon Diggers bar and LOVED it. It was just had a cool vibe and we enjoyed our pizza and beer :)  Then we finished the day with a little more Taiga time.

On Easter Monday we went home via Bridal Veil falls and Raglan. I fell in love with Raglan. It's the perfect beach town. I would absolutely live there if I could support myself somehow *le sigh* hahahaha. It's actually a little bit too cool for me. Everywhere you looked there was just Surfer peoples being cool! I was in no way cool enough and I didn't even mind because it's so PERFECT!! ...yes I'm just a little bit enthusiastic about the town.

This weekend made me feel so crazy lucky. I feel so grateful to have been born in such a stupendously beautiful country and to have free access to it. I feel grateful to have such a lovey man who takes me away to places like this and holds my shoes and towel when I have a swim in the freezing ocean. I feel so grateful that Taiga is mine (well my nephew at least hahaha) and that he's so happy and healthy and smart. 

I wish everybody could be as lucky as I am. 

xo

an awesome long weekend

Ahhh got to love a long weekend! ... of course being pretty much unemployed means that the public holidays mean next to nothing to me. I spent the weekend with Mr and it was really good even though we didn't do heaps. I have been loving listening to his old school LPs and hearing a bunch of different music played on that format. Could possibly be a real music snob hiding under my layers of love for Beyonce :P

We listened to the Sound City album and then watched the movie. What a cool experience. I'm not into rock particularly but the documentary was really interesting and I actually did enjoy the music. After that we danced around the lounge to Dr Hook... LOL

We went to a birthday party at Little Easy on Ponsonby Road. There was a tab which was a nice surprise and on the whole I loved this place. Great music, fab staff and a really cool vibe designed by Lovelace & co (I think). 

Mr lives close to a really good Op shop. He found a few amazing buys. A great jumper that looks amazing on him for $5! I didn't find anything except this creepy Ronald McDonald doll in the toy bin .... which I didn't buy LOLOL

I've been reading this book over the weekend because Ariel Bissett who is one of my fave book-tubers recommended it so highly. I'm not quite done but at this point I must admit..."my name is Anita and I am loving a book about mermaids" HAHAHA

So there ya go. A weekend of hanging with my fave man and broadening my musical horizons. Drinking on a tab in a great bar, watching documentaries and just generally having a great, low key time. I wish I could do that every weekend!

xo

And he hits it out of the park AGAIN :)

I had such an awesome Sunday this weekend. It made me feel so grateful to live in this lovely city and so lucky to have such a cool guy to share such fun times with and make me feel so special.

We began with a quick stop at a flash hotel to have a look at the view from the top. It was pure glamour and I tell you, I want to move in there :) Super beautiful. 

Ahhhhh I love it. The building has a long history in Auckland and I have vague memories of coming to this room for morning tea with my dad when I was little and it was still used as a canteen type of place. It's much prettier now.

I stopped into St Patricks to listen to the choir prepare for the service. I was a little disappointed (just a little though) to miss the service because from what I could tell the male choir leader was singing and his voice is just so amazing!  I lit a candle for my flat mate and all my hopes and dreams before I left.

After the hotel we went down to the seafood market at Wynyard quarter and absolutely destroyed our seafood platter for two and also a bit more beer than was probably good for us. It was fantastic and eating like that really lead to a great vibe. We were sharing and just going slow and enjoying the beautiful food. I love that restaurant and after chatting with the manager it sounds like there are some exciting things on the horizon for it that will mean it's going to be a top choice all year round and not just in summer like it is now. If you're ever in Auckland and looking for a great place to eat ... look no further.

HEHEHE this is how good the sauce on the muscles was. mmmmmmm He actually just beat  me to it. I would totally have had a go at the bucket if I thought of it first, I mean there weren't that many people around... 

Stolen from Mr's facebook.. I stopped taking photos by the time we got here :)

After spending hours and hours eating and drinking and sneaking in to watch the Warriors play on the big screen in the wine theater we strolled up to Ichiban Japanese restaurant on Albert street. It's a teeny little place with a whole wall of fun manga to look at while you eat. I have never quite got my head around graphics ( I know I suck) but these were really cool to flip through because they were all in Japanese. It just enforced my feeling that the best thing to decorate with is books!! I have no idea how we had room for any more food but I have to say that my curry went down very well indeed :)  I still prefer Ramen-Daikoku in Britomart for cheap Japanese but this was fun and absolutely value for money.

So. Awesome city + Awesome boy = Extremely happy me :)

xo

Can we just talk about Chaos Walking for a second?

I recently posted a completely inarticulate rave about "The Knife of never letting go" but I'm now reading "The ask and the answer" and I just had to write about the Chaos Walking series.. THEY.ARE.SO.GOOD... SO GOOD!!

I've never read anything Sci-Fi before and these ones are pulling me in so deeply. It's such a grim and disturbing plot and yet they're still so hopeful. I don't know too much of the plot and I haven't researched them at all but I'm so curious to see what happens. I have no idea AT ALL where the story is going or what's going to happen to Todd and Viola and very weirdly I love it. The writing is so fresh and  absorbing and even in the harshest moments Todd's innocence and pure heart shine through.

I wish so badly that I knew a young teen to pass my books on to. These are so awesome that I don't want to be the only person I know who has read them!  

If you're looking for something absorbing and fast paced that will leave you breathless and turning the pages as fast as you can then this is the series for you. 10/10

xo

L is for Laughing (aka boys are funny)

E is for Ear Candy

*** I had this post all good to go yesterday (Saturday) so that I could just upload it as I knew I'd be out most of the day but then...you know.. life. So this morning (SUnday) I'm going to fix my first fail of the month :)

I started with the PussyCat Dolls as my perfect example of pure ear candy but on this sunny morning I just have to add what I'm currently listening to. A vaguely related but really totally different genre but still simple, easy listening ear candy!!




***and now back to our regular - pre-scheduled programming***

Ear Candy... !!!

I love this song. It's the perfect definition of perfect POP :)

I say lock the pussycats in a room and don't let them out till they make more!  
xo

D is for... David Beckham

I just re-posted this picture on my face book page from one of my fave Kiwis Polly Gillespie. She was asking incidentally if he's better with or with out the art and I absolutely have to say WITH. It's so weird but the dude I've been dating a little didn't seem to like the picture... 

BWA-HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

:-p

XO

C is for Charming Country Boys

I live in New Zealand where Country music and Death Metal are about as popular as each other. I think One Direction are much more likely to get to the top of the charts than any Country artist. I've always been a little bit of a sucker for it but I really fell pretty hard for Country music when I spent a year in Alberta Canada. I kind of think it's the law there that everybody owns at least one country CD and has a stetson somewhere in the garage :)

I first heard Toby Keith and Carrie Underwood and Trace Adkins. I love the way that the music tells stories and combines real musicianship with all the fun and light heartedness of pop music. I know that the purists don't put much stock in most of the 'country' that's popular these days but you're always going to get your music snobs right?

Last night I was really bored ( have you seen television recently??) so was trawling You Tube and enjoying some country boys. I really noticed something...

Country music videos and more specifically Country BOYS are so charming! What is it about these boys? They're not all super good looking but when they start drawling through some of these super sweet songs and telling these stories ... Well ... hmmm what was I saying again?? LOL

I used two from Mr Shelton because I couldn't embed the best example of this phenomenon that I've found recently which is Luke Bryan's 'Crash My Party'. Now there's a charming man singing a charming song LOL

Now I must get off You Tube and be productive but ... maybe one more? hahaha

xo

B is for buying books

This past week I was staying with my mum in Thames. She was awesome and decided to buy my sister (who was also staying) and I a book each. What she didn't know was that this lovely gesture is really stressful. Books are so incredibly expensive that I've come to the point where the only time I want to own a book is when I really think that I will read it over and over again. I like to not own too much 'stuff' but I do like a good bookshelf....within limits. Generally I'm all about the Library. GO TO YOUR LIBRARY PEOPLE!!!!

Carson's is a beautiful store in Thames. They have an amazing selection of great books. It's so unusual to actually find a store that is about books and not stationary+toys+lotto tickets+music++++++.  The focus really brings that quality. I told the manager of the store I wanted to move in!

We had to go back twice and I think I must have picked up 50 books before I ended up with 'The knife of never letting go'... THE STRESSSSSSSSS I wanted to make sure I got something good and didn't waste my mothers money. When you read as much as I do and with such an A.D.D palate this is quite a hard ask. I've seen this book gushed over on book-tube a lot and the premise sounds pretty great so I went for it. 

Yes. This is my life that A - I can pack up and head out of town at a moments notice to hang at the beach with my mum and B- this amazing luxury stresses me out! LOL. This is the definition of a First World Problem hahahahahaha

xo

A few of my faves from the weekend :)

I stole Mr's shirt! It's so soft and cozy and it's great to sleep in AND wear with jean shorts to hang out. Score :)

We moved the cut down thingy (LOL) and had ourselves a lil fire. Then we started playing with the lasers. So fun.. and pretty as well. 

My view on a great morning from the current place I'm working. It really makes it easy to get up early to start at 7.30am. I love how beautiful my city looks from here.

This blury pic is of a cruise ship leaving Auckland. I was hanging out at the beach with my friend and just loving how beautiful the night was and how nice to be out and about making the most of the end of summer :)

Television sucks your soul...

TVNZ is so clever. They've put season 4 of Pretty Little Liars on at 12pm on a Sunday. I had no idea why and really thought it was dumb because this show should be rating through the roof. Teenage girls ( and 35 year old women) LOVE this shizz! Seriously it's freaking awesome. The old slot of 5.30 on a Sunday was bad enough... 

Then today while I was watching I started to have a few epiphanies. I never watch TV during the day..EVER so score right there for the television station as they have instantly got an extra hour of ad watching out of me. I would have probably watched something in the old time slot so this really is a bonus hour for them. I cant believe how much of your day ends up being sucked up when you turn the box on! 

The other thing I realised was that I watch this show and while I really like it I do tend to come away feeling slightly under-dressed under-groomed and ... old. I always want to run out and buy something to remedy that after watching the hot young high schoolers race around after the Ubiquitous 'A'. That's not their fault. It makes sense to have good looking people play these roles and the show is really not about that. It isn't at all focused on their looks and they are really all pretty kick ass characters. It's just years of media conditioning. 

I love this show and make an effort to see it and yet I feel sorta conflicted about that. I honestly think it's a good example of how Television is way WAY too important. I need to get a life!

I think that when I'm more in a position to make it happen I'm going to make a big goal of watching less T.V. just to see how much more fun my life becomes. I'm picking that if I'm conscious about it and make an effort to fill my time with fun things and cool people I'm going to come away feeling much more entertained and also feeling a ton more awesome about who I am and what I represent.

xo

Brian McKnight 'More than words' tour

Last night this happened....

I had the most amazing afternoon/evening :) I started off by finding an outfit that didn't totally suck and having an OK hair day. Then I was off for a drink with Mr who was ... well he was buggered after a long week but still his lovely self. Then I went to the Aotea Centre for the best show ever. I'm still a little overwhelmed by exactly how good it was!

popping into my flatmates room to use her mirror for a kissy-face selfie. I had to send it to my sister to get her opinion on the outfit or it was gonna be a really long decision making process LOL

LOL - Mr and I enjoyed a beer at Orleans which shares an outdoor area with Racket bar. Thought this was a funny idea. Wonder what the bouncers think of it...

Tevin Campbell (my first love) was the opening act. He is so funny looking now all bean pole body, shiny shoes and hat. He was so good. I mean... just... WOW. There was no sense of it being at all pathetic for him to be singing songs from when he was 15 and 16 as I feared. To be honest I actually think the lyrics worked pretty well for a 37 year old. He still has that voice and I have to admit that I pretty much burst into tears at the opening notes of 'I'm Ready'. During his set it was weirdly hard to remember to breathe. I was so happy for intermission ahahahahaha

Brian McKnight was next and he was even better than last time though ... the shows were different. I dont think he needs the band and all the lights even a little bit. BUT. They were really cool. I loved his bass player who added some comedy and of course a mean bass line. This time around there was a lot less talking and importantly he sang my all time fave song from his catalog "The Rest Of My Life". *SWOON*. I'm seriously not even joking. Again it was kinda hard to remember to breathe. He is just so good! I mean really??? WOW. There are no words to adequately express how amazing he is. 

It was honestly a night that I don't think will be topped in a hurry. I can't imagine what could come my way that would be better :) The only downside was all the stary-eyed couples around me hanging on to each other and slow dancing the show away. Honestly they were so cute and it was so cool to see BUT .... I was there alone!!! Bummer hahahahahaha

I feel so grateful. Grateful to my mum for giving me the ticket for Christmas and even more than grateful I think privileged to have been in that auditorium to see those men perform.  So thank you Mum thank you Tevin and Thank you Brian :)

xo

Lately...

Pilot Bay - Mt Maunganui

Surf Beach Mt Maunganui

Keeping the glasses in tact at the Hamilton Markets

Swimming :)

Swimming :)

It's been a great week so far. Tomorrow I get to spend the evening with some of my favourite men! MR and Tevin Campbell AND Brian McKnight! 

I am LOVING this week

xo

So yeah... my teenage dreams are coming true!

This morning I was laying in bed playing around on my tablet thingy and remembered that I needed to check the date of the concert I'm going to next week. I have no idea how it's not burnt into my brain but I guess when you get tickets so early the exact day seems so far away you don't think too hard about it. Anyhow... I am seeing Brian McKnight at the Aotea Centre and I nearly had a heart attack when I realised that TEVIN CAMPBELL has been added as support. OHMYGOSH. Tevin Campbell is my first love. I had him all over my walls and school books through the early years of high school and one of the first guys I ever had a big crush on in real life looked so much like him LOL. Oh 14 you're so funny ;)

So essentially I am going to be under the same roof as TEVIN FREAKING CAMPBELL and BRIAN MCKNIGHT at the same time. OMG I CANT BREATHE lololol I'm a little sad that I'm going to the show alone but probably for the best as I'm absolutley gonna make a fool of myself. Kinda makes me wish I'd sprung for the better seats now but what can you do.

I cant stop smiling. Seriously. I look high. LOL :D

OH the beauty. The visual and auditory ( is that the word??? lol) beauty is going to be intense and I know this coz I saw Brian last time he came to NZ. HEHEHHEE This is the coolest thing ever and I don't even care how high my dork flag is flying right now. 

Girls got a right to be insanely excited in times such as these right??

xxoo

#100happydays

So I was just reading my girl Reannas blog You'll Move Mountains...( ok we're not friends but I've been reading her blog for a while and feel like we could be lol) and she was talking about the 100 happy days project she's completing. 

Basically it's a social media challenge set by this web site in which you take a moment every day for 100 days to record something that makes you happy. You take a picture and then hash-tag it in order to join up. Simple but elegant :)

I decided straight away to sign up because with my life I should find this a breeze but I also know that I complain way to much and focus on the little things way to much. It's going to be nice to look back after 100 days to see what made me happy.

The post I put up on here ..and Instagram yesterday could have been a good place to start but NO CHEATING LOL. Cheating is not the point so I shall try hard to find something good and then Instagram the crap out of that shizz before I go to bed tonight!!! hahahahahahaha

I'm talking to MR. and dissing Rod Stewart on Facebook right now which is a fantastic way to start the day. It's making me very happy indeed. 

xo 

Pakuranga Night Markets

*Edit*

The main reason one goes to the night markets is for cheap and diverse food options. It's so fun and such a cheap way to eat out. LOVE IT. We were on the hunt for fried ice cream... yep you read that right! Hahahaha. Both boys love it and I was so curious to see how it would even look but alas the booth wasn't there last night. Still, we ate like kings. I had the best steamed red bean bun. Om nom nom. I prefer red bean over pork buns but it is like having desert for dinner.

What I really appreciated about the markets was the fact that the stalls had things I wanted to buy at a price point I could actually reach. I found so many necklaces and things I wanted to buy but I walked away with this one...

Something about this thing just took my fancy. It's totally weird and it's going to require the 'right' outfit ( which is obviously NOT this one! LOL - excuse the cleavage) but I just love it and I reckon I can be pretty sure nobody will have the same one :-)

We ended up spending 3 hours at the markets. I had such a great time and I 'd love to go back but given that it's quite far from my house ... aaand I don't drive I doubt it will happen any time soon. 

*more edits*

xo

Awesome Auckland day .. despite the weather.

Today my friend Michael and I went to the Ports of Auckland open day and also hit up the museum for a lil photo exhibit and ... the garden center for a coffee! LOL you start to wonder how old you really are when you suggest the garden center for coffee :)

I have an unhealthy obsession with the port. Absolutely love watching the giant machines driven by the (comparatively) teeny little men moving all that mysterious freight off the ships and into such specific locations... 

AHHHHHHHH!!!!! This was beyond cool. I was worse than the little kids around the straddle carrier. I didn't even think of getting my photo inside but after the little kids did I was next in line! Of course I had been in the rain and was wearing a dress that doesn't apparently translate well but whatever! I was having a ball so who cares? The lovely guy telling us about it said that all you need is a drivers licence to get hired! hmmmmm

After this we raced up to the museum to see the "A decade of days - Auckland through Robin Morrison's eyes" exhibit. It was really small but very awesome and as an Aucklander who gets in free I reckon absolutely worth the trip. The photos are really amazing and you also get a cool little bit about Sir Edmund Hillary's trip to the top of Mt Everest. The Auckland Museum is really such a gem and these days they're constantly having little surprising gems. 

And after that we decided to skip the crowds in the gallery cafe and hit up Palmers garden center for our caffeine. It's such a lovely place, I love to pause in the entry and take a giant deep breath just to appreciate how beautiful it smells :) - the service is pretty average and the goods much of a muchness with any other place but it's just so ... nice! and a good place to feel VERY young on a Sunday afternoon. There are so many things to look at after you finish your coffee and muffin...

xo

Merry Christmas :)

It's December 25th and I'm sitting in my house all by myself drinking a green coffee and watching Mama Mia... kind of awesome :) 

I'm just waiting for my friend to come pick me up and then we're off to see my family for some Christmas goodness. This is the outfit i wore to the hospital yesterday. I wear it every Christmas eve and usually people just look at me like I'm weird and they pretend they didn't look at me but yesterday it was so cool to see people smiling at me all day long and loving my weird outfit. I felt like I was making people happy which was awesome.

Last night we went to see the lights on Franklin road. This mirror ball goodness was my favourite. Can't beat a good mirror ball!

This window made me laugh. It was pretty funky with all kinds of Christmas imagery ...and ALF! hahahahaha LOVE IT

At the top of the street we popped into Fred's for a coffee. I would never have even known it was there if my friend wasn't already a fan. Such a sweet place! All funky staff and painted brick walls. The coffee was pretty great as well :)

On our way from our Mexican cafe dinner back to our car we stopped in to watch the final 'joy to the world' at St Patrick's. I love this cathedral even though I'm not Catholic. Absolutely beautiful and in the back ground our Sky Tower all lit up for the season :)

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to  every body . I hope  y'all are having better weather for it than I currently am! Grrr Mother Nature what is the steaming hot lead up and then a wet and grey day all about?

x

I heart Radio presents Stan Walker and Jessica Mauboy

Well I'm obviously never going to make a concert photographer... especially with an ailing cell phone to work with BUT you get the idea :)

Last night I went to the I Heart Radio concert at the Civic in Auckland. I'd put my name in the draw for free tx a while ago and then promptly forgot about it so I was a bit surprised when I actually got tickets! I wasn't too sure what it would be like. I appreciated Stan Walker. I even have some of his songs  on my ipod but I had kind of written him off as a teenybopper. I couldn't find anybody to come with me so I nearly wrote it off. I wasn't too fussed about Jesssica Mauboy as I enjoyed the couple of her songs I'd heard but I didn't really know her.

WELL. I am so very glad I sucked up all of the "I dont wanna go alone" "it's raining" "I'm going to be the oldest one there" "wednesday?? seriously??" thoughts and just went along. It was an amazing show. It started with Identity dance crew doing the routine they did on the NZ has talent show ( I think..) and then Mr Walker. WOAH that kid has talent and showmanship simply vibrating in the air around him when he's on stage. He's amazing. Really fun and O.T.T but there is just so.much.talent! How cool that he's one of us. It actually made me pretty proud and happy that the one show I got to see this year was a kiwi and as good as anything anybody from overseas could bring! What would be freaking amazing would be Stan Walker and Brian McKnight... hmmm who can I suggest it too??

Jessica Mauboy was up next and as I mentioned I really only knew her from doing the song 'Galaxy' with Stan. She won the crowd over and had everybody jumping and having a party. It was such a fun and cute performance. I don't mean to be patronising with 'cute' but she managed to be on the stage alone and get the whole crowd on her side and it started with a small group of obvious fans and then slowly it spread... hahahahaha so many smiles and so much obvious FUN going on. Of course it helped that the girl can SING. SHeesh all of that in that teeny little frame. She has some power. Though seriously what was up with the stage outfit? I didn't get it.... leopard print pants suit. Hmmm I'm obviously out of the loop with what the kids are into hahahahahaha.

The sound was a bit messed up but other than that this was the perfect perfect PERFECT way to spend a rainy Wednesday evening. Thank you so much I heart radio :)