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

The GOOD with the BAD

***Long random sorta post ahead***

Things in my neck of the world have been a bit of a whirlwind over the last 6 weeks or so. It's so hard not to be all 'poor me' but there have been so many fantastic things that I have loved during this time that if I do dip my toe into the quick sand just thinking about them is enough to pull me out.

At the end of march my flatmate passed away. She didn't just pass away she had an accident here at home and I had to call the ambulance and it was a pretty nasty situation. I didn't think she would pass away that night but it was still so scary. Even now, all these weeks later it's still a little hard to actually fathom that she died. After a life of having these types of accidents and not dying ... she died. Hmmm. It's impossible to get my head around and it's so easy to say all the right things and of course the brain knows, logically that things couldn't have been different but generally speaking when things happen the heart is more powerful than the head. 

During the month I've had disappointment after disappointment on the job front and the resurgence of an injury that I just didn't think was ever going to be a problem again but which has meant that I've had to turn down work which always sucks. My finances are so stressful and past choices are making it hard right now. Of course it will all be better when I have an income!

So there's all of that and while I'm adjusting to looking for a new job and a new place to live I have had some major first world problems that have simply added together to make life so frustrating and kinda sorta like I'm constantly walking through gel ... or something. 

Today is the last day in my 100 happy days project. Looking back through the last month or so of pictures has really made me realise how incredibly lucky I am. If I were religiously inclined, which I'm not, I would say I were blessed. 

My friends and family have, on several situations helped me to have some amazing and fun times. Two nights after my flatmate went to hospital Mr left me speechless and just a wee bit in awe of him when he gave me a private tour of the civic and then a little later a crazy fun night in that had me wearing his clothes plus fairy wings and a crown and dancing around the house with his flatmate :)

I got to go to a hot air balloon show ( ?) which was really amazing. I've actually spent a ton of time with my sister and nephew in the last little while and I've really enjoyed it though having a 16 month old staying with me in my totally not child friendly house was freaking exhausting!. 

I finally had the graduation ceremony for my Graduate Diploma in Teaching. It was such a surprise to me but the day was super special and really enjoyable. I loved participating and I'm so glad that I went along. This ceremony was so much better than my graduation from my degree :)

My mom has been really supportive in lots of ways but she worked really hard to make it possible for me to have a dinner party for 8 of my friends. This is actually a bigger deal than it sounds and I had a fantastic time. The party was to celebrate my birthday and my graduation and my friend getting a job and also the fact that I thought I was going to be leaving this hood. 

Today I went for a long walk and I realised anew that this neighbour hood is spectacular and I am very lucky to live here. It's so great to live at the beach. Every day it's a little different and while it looks awesome it often also smells pretty great which is something that I love. 

So yeah. Things might be a little hard right now and while I'm prone to over thinking and being a drama queen I have an amazing life that is only going to get better. I am going to keep on keeping on and keep making plans and dreaming dreams because THATS how things get better. I will keep trying to reach my ideals and then when I do I will find new ones. I just need to take a breath and chill out sometimes.

J is for Jammies

It's almost Easter and in my family that means NEW JAMMIES :-) We've not done the whole chocolate egg thing for ages and ages instead each year we get a new pair....or two, of pajamas. This year I decided to go for just some pants as I usually just wear random singlets and tee-shirts instead of the long sleeve jackets. My family has very few traditions but I love the ones we do have :)

xo

A-Z in April. A is for Auntie

I decided to do the A-Z in April blog challenge again this year. I've participated twice before and it's how I came across some of my all time fave blogs and also it's just a great challenge to make you think about interesting and different posts. I was planning to have a snazzy theme and work out some cool posts before hand but that didn't happen so I'm going to have to wing it. I'll probably just think of something appropriate for each day as I sit down to write and go for it :)

These are pics from last weekend. I stayed with my sister and my nephew. What a great weekend! This is my first time being Auntie and as he gets older it's getting more and more fun. I have to admit that babies do nothing for me, even when they're super cute and well behaved. He's 15 months now and so just beginning to be pretty awesome :)

In these pics we're hanging out in the gardens and he stole my drink and goobered in it. For some reason that I cant put my finger on it was sooooo hilarious and of course my sister managed to capture my hysterics!

This was also the first time that he's really noticed me and was being so friendly. It was absolutely lovely and I just cant wait to hang out with him as he grows and learns. I may be a lil bit biased but by my reckoning he's the most handsome and the smartest little guy in the world...EVER :-P

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

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

The beginning and the end

I took this photo on Thursday. I took the same photo 10 months ago on my first day of university! Thursday was my LAST DAY and it's so fun to think back on who I was then and who I am now. I've learned so much about myself and also, of course about how to be the best teacher that I can be. I wont miss the university even a little bit but I am grateful for the chances that it will hopefully afford me.  I took this snap as I was walking out of the campus for the last time on my way to my mothers beach house for a weekend in the sun that I was completely desperate for :P

I met this guy while I was hanging out on the beach. He would waddle around and just stand about a meter away from me and just stare at me. He never approached me or tried to steal my food or anything... just staring! hahaha I think he's my spirit animal or my new best friend or something. I decided to call him Gary. 

I had a fantastic weekend with my mother. She let me have my fave meal 

(salad + sausages + boiled potatoes) each night and I just relaxed, read three books and applied for teaching roles. It was insanely relaxing. We went Pipi hunting and I managed to have my first swim of the season. A perfect weekend and now the future awaits!

x

My fave thing in my bedroom :)

This is a frame that my sister gave me for christmas last year. These are my grandparents outside one of their first homes ♥

My day started with dolphins....

Yesterday my day started EARRRRLY. We were up and at em to go through some job application stuff and then head to my sisters town to go shopping. As we were driving along the coast I noticed something large jumping around out in the water and turns out it was a huge pod of dolphins having breakfast!!! We pulled over and watched them jumping around for a few minutes. It was just SO COOL :)

When we had our fill of jumping dolphins we made our way to my sisters and proceeded to do some major damage to my mum's bank balance. It's amazing how stressful spending other peoples money can be. Wheeew. Still I managed to get a few cool things ... including some kick ass shoes and an awesome dress and I also managed to steal a few snuggles with my 9 month old nephew.

After a long day of this I ended up heading out for some drinks wearing that awesome dress. We hit up Brew bar where it was Octoberfest. The poor bar staff all dressed up as German stereotypes. I have to say that the lederhosen boys really beat the beer wenches in the hotness stakes ;) After that we ended up in the Northern Steamship. It was pretty quiet but I love it there. One of my fave dates ever took place in that bar and I've also taken my lap top there in the afternoon and set up with a beer to get assignments done. They were playing some mid nineties RnB so I was in heaven!!! 

So my Saturday started with dolphins and ended with 90s RnB. It was a beautiful day, I managed some Taiga kisses and a new dress. I got to drink some tequila AND the buses were running exactly to time...

Some kind of twilight zone! After an awesome day like that I can hardly imagine what the rest of my holiday has in store for me but at this rate I reckon I'm bound to win Lotto, find a first edition Anne in a garage sale and get swept off my feet by a tall, dark and tattooed man! 

ROCK ON October

:)

lil bits

This weekend has been eventful ... and kind of not. Such a strange sort of couple of days. Yesterday I had to give a eulogy for my Aunt. She passed away from cancer last week. That's now the third time that I have stood up for a family member. I do it because I can. I actually like public speaking so there's that. I'm done now though thank you universe!!!!!

After the funeral I went out for a terrible Thai dinner with my family. The food was actually pretty good BUT the service was non-existent. I guess, living close to the CBD I am used to places that have to work hard to give their customers a complete service or risk them going next door to spend their money. It's not such a problem when there is less competition. I have to say that I am so used to good or at least OK service that I loose it pretty quickly when I don't get it. I bring the bitch!! LOL When I was down on the coast with my mum I had to bite my lip soooooo hard to avoid looking like an Auckland D-Bag when I had to wait about 20 minutes for two coffees in an empty cafe. That was a real test of my self control but the pace of life and peoples expectations are different down there so while the guy was insanely slow I would have only made myself look bad if I said anything to him. At least he was a really sweet guy :)

Today the weather has turned to custard so it's all about television. This afternoon I watched the new eps of Ice Road Truckers that I missed. OMG I love that show!!! I'm a bit bummed that Jack Jesse isn't on the roster for this season. He rocked my world but it is cool that they're splitting it between Canada and Alaska so I can get a bit of a weekly fix of Canadian accents :)

The Canadian Truckers. How cool are Alex and Hugh?? I want them to be my grandfathers :)

Today was also the return of Heart of Dixie!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. It's perfection with the southern drawls, great clothes and awesome music all set in the lovely little picturesque town of Blue Bell. It's so nice to have something that is a bit wholesome and simple lovely fun. So happy it's back on but I just wish that it was in a different time slot.

x

University holiday week one :)

I returned last night from a week away. It was spent between my sisters home and my mothers and I have to say it was sooooooo relaxing and low key but I really had a good time. While at my sisters I spent the time hanging out with my nephew, getting to know him a little because I don't get to see him very often and when I was at my Mums it was about teaching. I got to go to her school and spend some time with her class. Whodathunk that teaching hyperbole to 12 year old boys could actually be fun? well I will admit that the class is unique but they were lovely and really good to me. I LOVED my time there.

I left Auckland on Saturday morning and WOW it was a lovely day. I always realise how much I love this city when I'm in town early on the weekend and if it happens to be a gorgeous day well I'm sunk :)

The bus ride to Hamilton was amazing. The beautiful weather just highlighted how lovely my country is. Everywhere was so green and peaceful and picturesque. My old dream started to come alive but then I reminded myself exactly how much I would suck at being a farmers wife and came back to reality hahahahah

Our first stop was the bumps n babes show at the event center. As far as a review of the show goes I am really not your girl. I am not at all into babies and the baby paraphernalia bored me so fast. I will say that as far as my experience and learning about children and development and parenting goes I did find it all a little frustrating. It seems like being a new or expecting mother/parent is such a hard and scary time that to have so much ideology and one sided information thrust down your throat must make it really hard to figure out what works for you and how you want to bring your child into the world and how you want to raise them.  From an outsiders perspective it seems like this sort of event and all of these exhibitors with such agendas are  anti mother/parent  and contribute heavily to things like post natal depression and the overall terror that comes with the sudden burden of full control of a human life.  But maybe that's just me and I have no kids so what do I know. Anyhow the photo above is of the baby racing.... HILARIOUS!! best part of the show :)

That night we went to the Hamilton Night Markets. SO COOL. It was really awesome. I would say that Hamilton kick Auckland's butt in this respect. Seriously it was a busy and well managed evening. The markets were probably about 70% food stalls with a bit of craft and a bit of veges and a few psychics thrown in for good measure. The thing that really impressed me was the variety and the fact that the prices were so good. You could get a $1 lamb skewer at one stall then wander along to the next for a $2.50 pork bun and finish with a $2 pancake. AWESOME. We had a beautiful evening and it was sublime to stand outside under the stars and inhale the smell of the wood fires for the Hangi and Jerk Chicken and smoked fish. Ahhhhh it was such a worthwhile reason to leave the house and if you're ever in Hamilton on a Saturday evening with nothing to do you should definitely hit up the night markets!!

My sister and I (and my nephew in the front pack) - AND  THE PORK BUN!! MMM

After that i went to spend a few days with my Mum and her kids. A great experience practicing my running records and teaching the senior students about hyperbole and making them write poetry! HAHAHAHA they loved it (kinda LOL) and wow did they come up with some great poems. One of the students was extremely gifted and it was so interesting to chat with him. I would love the challenge of teaching someone like him even though I would say he's smarter than me. It was kind of funny when I asked him what he wanted to do in the future and he instantly replied 'Hairdresser'..... really?? LOL. I mean I am quite aware of how technical that job is and how hard but it was such a strange choice for someone who potentially has the world at their feet :)

After school time it was back to Hamilton for a couple more days. We didn't do much as we are all very poor and with a 6 month old and all. Still it was lovely with lots of coffee and walking around the awesome Hamilton Gardens and attempting but failing due to the weather to get around their lake. I will take a second to say that I will give a huge FAIL grade to the cafe at the Hamilton Lake. They are extremely over priced and glacial with their service. Their food is edible but crazy average and the cafe is uncomfortable and hard to navigate, especially with a stroller. I will honestly never spend money there again. AWFUL place.

The last thing of note is kinda boring but highlighted something to me. I chose a couple of DVDs for my last night. Firstly "the silver linings playbook" and secondly "The perks of being a wall flower". I had read both of these books a wile ago and while I really enjoyed the wallflower movie I was very disappointed with The silver linings playbook. It just goes to show how people can be either book people OR movie people. I am a book person and there are very few times that a movie has bettered or even equaled the book. I would argue that The Perks of being a wall flower worked as a movie because the author controlled the script etc. I have grave fears for The Fault In Our Stars movie. John Green you should keep your hand in there!

So now for two more weeks of holiday!! WOOT WOOT.

I have a few plans but basically it's wide open. I hope to get to the art gallery for their new exhibit, to the movies for monsters university and before midnight, if I ever decide what I want I will get a hair cut and I also want to go to the Rekorderling Cider pop up bar :) add in a ton of reading and relaxing on the beautiful minke blanket my mum got for me AND a touch of yoga and I should be heading into semester two ready to roll.

Those Red Vines were a further entry into my list of awful American food to try. Have to say they are the most revolting thing that has EVER been in my mouth. OMG so gross. I had to force myself not to spit it out. EEWWWWWWWWW -even worse than peeps!