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

Christmas is coming to The Big Little City :)

I love this video!!!

It shows off my fab city as the Christmas decorations go up. I know it's a little early for Christmas ... I try not to even think about it until my friend Sheri has had her birthday on Dec 8 Buuuuut it came through on my Facebook feed this morning so I had to share.

:)

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 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

:)

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

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

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!