A Bone... (and pictures...)

Nice of JKR to throw us one :)

Now if only she'd hurry up and write it. (I'm not demanding at all!)

It's amazing the amount of time I feel I have to update this blog now that I'm on holiday. (Yeah, don't get used to it - the three people that read this!)

So, I'm making this a day of random pictures. Today, I'm making peach cake. (Thanks to Anne Hathaway's recipe in Woman's Day...) Also, thanks to the miracle of fan bake - it's done (I think) sooner than expected.

It's looking a TAD burnt, but once I dust it with icing sugar it should be all good.

The one thing that frustrates me is that we don't have a cake rack. But it should be all good for tonight. I'm just letting it sit in the oven as I type this. Hopefully it tastes good. I substituted lemon zest for orange zest.

What's amazing is I've done all this before taking a shower. I woke up at 10.15 and went "oh crap!" because I'm supposed to be going to Isaac's for lunch for his sister's birthday. And I wanted to bake before hand. And now, instead of having a shower (or at least doing pilates....)

**whoops, have just gotten the cake out and it looks like peach slice because it didn't rise enough because the pan I used was too big! Lol***

It looks better in the tin, maybe I'll leave it there...


Choir at WPiTP!!! Yay! Look, you can JUST see me up the back there. (I have conveniently pointed myself out just so no one is left out of the loop...)

Anyway, it was FREEZING up there. I couldn't feel my hands after. But we did pretty good (if I do say so myself...) and I was impressed when I saw the video the monday after.

Ahhh...pre-Christmas fun.

People keep coming round to drop stuff off - well, two people have. Haha, how's that for exaggeration. Although the landlord did drop off a nice hamper for us :) Bless his cotton socks.

And I really should shower now...it's almost 12...

Christmas prep!

Ugh. I'm exhausted and hungry and COLD. It's freakin freezing - what is UP with that???? You'd think it was the height of winter rather than the middle of summer.

Example: It's warmed up a little, Mozilla tells me that the temperature outside is 11c. 11!!!! It should be like 23 or something. I should no be having to wear my winter jacket when I head out - nor should I have to have three layers on or be wearing ugg boots inside. *sigh*

Bbq tonight should at least be interesting. I've made kebabs. It was supposed to be at the beach, but the weather has made that impossible. So it's here. On the eve of the Christmas eve eve party. (Like the number of "eves"?)

Speaking of which - I made a HUGE batch of peanut butter cookies for the party and I'm planning on making peach cake sometime today as well :) AND...on christmas itself I'll be making oreo cheesecake and potato salad to bring to the parentals. I love cooking. I volunteered to cook on Christmas eve so that we can have a flat tea. It's gonna be a roast chicken. Which is nice and uh...wintery.

So yes, LOTS of cooking. The final presents were bought today and there should be a picture post soon!

Holidays!!!

It's the first day of my holidays. I'm so happy!!! You don't know how glad I am that I have the rest of this week off. Work is starting to suck the big one.

Anyway, it's all busy at the moment. Figures, with christmas on.

So, to anyone who reads this - have a Merry Christmas and I'll probably see you in the new year! Yay!

Eragon: An Epic Flop?

There's been a lot of hype surrounding this movie in these parts. For one thing, you can't go ANYWHERE without seeing a movie poster. They're on the back of buses, in bus stops, in the malls, in kfc...the list goes on.

The book is fantastic. Almost brilliant when you consider that Christopher Paolini wrote it when he was only 15.

The movie was a classic example of one of those big budget films where they spent more money on advertising than on making the movie any good. If I was Paolini - and I don't claim to have the ability to write a novel at age 15 - I would have never allowed such a vigourous bastardisation of my work.

The movie followed none of the original plot, it removed everything that was interesting about the minor characters and excluded a large number of major characters and characters that would play a major role in any future movies they might want to make. (Although, judging from the response from most people they may not make any future movies anyway...)

How can you do that? How can you completely twist the plot of the book so that it is virtually unrecognisable?? It almost makes me feel ashamed of my little duelling Eragon from KFC that sits on my desk. The book had plenty of scope for a fantasy epic - possibly not up to the standards of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or even Narnia. But it had potential.

Unfortunately, really bad casting, the lack of a good script - not to mention the lack of a plot of any kind - and poor character development, completely destroyed this film before it even had the chance. Perhaps if they'd spent a little less on special effects and more on casting? The characters were virtually unrecognisable and the film conveyed a feeling of moving along as quickly as possible so that we could get to the major fight scene at the end. (Which, btw - did not go at all as described in the book...) Basically, the film moved so fast that there was no chance for the characters to develop.

We mainly found the film funny even though it wasn't meant to be.

It's really unfortunate because I was really looking forward to it!

In other news: Read Eldest. It's SO much better :)

Bit belated but nonetheless...

Lol. My flatmates are silly! It's been almost two weeks and this still makes me laugh.

Why?

Why do people insist on wasting my time?

I don't care that you want an envelope specifically for posting books at 90c. We have a book mailer. That is all I know. If you don't want that, well, I really don't care.

I don't care that our Oki Toner cartridges are too expensive for your liking. That's the price, like it or lump it.

I don't care that you normally get a list of all your printer cartridges that you use sent out. If you can't give me more information than I normally order a brother fax cartridge I can't find the cartridge for you.

Grrr...

On the upside. I win for "outstanding commitment to our customer's and our business". If only they knew!

Techno Geek

I am now the proud owner of not one, but two laptops. How geeky can I get??? Lol. But the new one is SO pretty. It's an Acer and has a built-in webcam and is SO MUCH faster than the old laptop. (Which I am selling btw...so I won't be the owner of two laptops for too much longer!) But oh so pretty! *sigh*

In fact, it's sitting by me at work now. Yeah, *geek*

I have spent all today cutting out elves for christmas in lieu of our pod decorations. Tim's away so it's actually quite fun :) Not that he's an old stick in the mud or anything. But he's still the TL and he's so competitive that it gets in the way of having fun sometimes. Well, at least, I feel bad if I'm slacking off!

Today's gone quick though!!!

I've finished Eragon, Eldest AND Uglies and Pretties this week so far. (I edit this post on Thursday...lazy, I know!) I'm going to buy Specials tonight so I can finish at least ONE trilogy. I hate that the Inheritance one isn't finished yet, it's sucked me in like a sucking thing. I can't wait till the movie comes out. In fact, I discovered today that KFC are giving out Eragon lunch boxes for the kids meals with toys. SO EXCITED!

I get sucked into these things too easily.

I'd actually go buy it from KFC if I wasn't so broke at the moment. I hate being broke. I can only go to Borders tonight because work gave us all $50 Westfield vouchers for Christmas. I'm not broke, broke, but I've seriously over-spent this month and I don't get paid for like another week. (Or slightly less...)

I can go home soon. 20 mins and counting...

December!!

It's basically the end of the year now.

This time last year I was in Singapore, on my way to the UK. THAT was fun. This time this year I am working. Still. I have been here 7 months now. How crazy is that????!

Last year sounded like a whole lot more fun, but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

It's funny, I went to my parents' for tea last night and as I was driving back home I thought of several years back when uni was still pretty new and the number of times that I'd driven down that road and how Jem used to live on the way and I'd stop in to pick him up or go over on my way home from prayer meeting and wake him up...

I feel so old now. Lol! Now I don't even have to drive past, cuz his room is right next to mine. AND I only drive the road from Papanui to Hornby once a week...

It just surprised me how much things had changed, not in a particularly bad way. Just different.

In other news...the technician says that my laptop has nothing wrong with it. AND they charged my $50 to tell me that. I believed him too, right up until this morning when it started playing up again. I hate it.

I'm going to get a new one tomorrow :)

December!!

It's basically the end of the year now.

This time last year I was in Singapore, on my way to the UK. THAT was fun. This time this year I am working. Still. I have been here 7 months now. How crazy is that????!

Last year sounded like a whole lot more fun, but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

It's funny, I went to my parents' for tea last night and as I was driving back home I thought of several years back when uni was still pretty new and the number of times that I'd driven down that road and how Jem used to live on the way and I'd stop in to pick him up or go over on my way home from prayer meeting and wake him up...

I feel so old now. Lol! Now I don't even have to drive past, cuz his room is right next to mine. AND I only drive the road from Papanui to Hornby once a week...

It just surprised me how much things had changed, not in a particularly bad way. Just different.

In other news...the technician says that my laptop has nothing wrong with it. AND they charged my $50 to tell me that. I believed him too, right up until this morning when it started playing up again. I hate it.

I'm going to get a new one tomorrow :)

Rain...

Rain rain go away come again another day...

It is pouring down outside. It makes me not want to be at work but to be home in bed. Lucky it's thursday and there's only friday to go! What's weird was that it was so warm yesterday, verging on HOT. And I'm exceptionally cold today.

Brrr...

Stuff tells me that it's 9 degrees outside. It makes me cold just thinking about it!

Today is going reasonably slow. I suppose it's the last day of the month though. On the upside, I'm getting a lot of reading done. I bought Eragon with the book voucher my brother got me for my birthday and I'm really getting into it now :)

I'm looking forward to the movie coming out now too. It doesn't look half bad!

So much food at work today because we're celebrating birthdays!! Uggh...I'll start feeling sick soon. Meanwhile I'm praising my stroke of genius for buying/bringing S&V chips and dip :)

Birthdays!

Was a weekend of birthdays :) Jen's 21st on the Saturday night was great fun and the food was SO good. Seriously. It was tapas and I ate SO MUCH. It was fantastic!! Anyway, have lots of photos from the "do":

Jen and I...I'm a little rosy-cheeked, I know! :P

Flat photo!

Jan and I and the manniquin! Lol.

Our table before the messy eating began!

The Hornby Crew

All the girls!

Much fun and hilarity was had. And we even managed to remain quite sober for it all. (Probably cuz we had to pay for drinks!) But it was a great excuse to dress up - and my new dress from Aussie even arrived in time - which was grand because I could dress up in new things. (I like new things...)

Anyway, was also my birthday on Sunday. Which is not something I frequently advertise. I am now another year older. Lol. But it was all in all a good day. Picked the boy up from the airport at a ridiculously early time and went back to bed. Then we went for lunch and the Wineshed. Which is REALLY pretty and the food was fantastic!

THEN the flatmates threw me a psuedo-surprise birthday party. Psuedo surprise because I knew that they had something planned. But very sweet of them nonetheless.

Anyway, was LOTS of fun, AND I had the day off work yesterday and I got my hair done! Yay. So I feel all pretty and shiny now. That and work's going quick. Yay.

Agrh.

And did I mention that I was insecure???

I am a terrible, terrible person :P

I also want to go home. Hurry up 5.30!!!

Sydney!

We're going to Sydney!!!!!!!!!

Ticket cost: $608 - for two people
(includes airline taxes, fuel surcharge ect)

All we need to pay on top of that is $25pp departure tax!

That's $304 per person!!!!!

I'm so excited. It's only for four days - but it's still so exciting!!! Okay, it's also not till January. But it's still so exciting!!!

I haven't left the country for a whole year! (Almost.) Actually, as of this weekend, it'll be exactly a year since I was last in Sydney. For a day. Yep, 24 hour stopover. Lol.

Only, this time it'll be so much better because the boy is coming AND we're flying Emerites. (I hear they have hot towels...)

Now, all we need to do is sort out accomodation...lol

Argh.

My laptop has totally died on me.

At a completely inconvinient time.

I hate it.

Especially since I was supposed to bring to work today to work on some design stuff. Which I was REALLY looking forward to seeing as how it'd mean that I'd have at LEAST an hour and a half doing nothing on phones. NOTHING.

I am not amused with it at all!

Grrr....the screen completely died on me. Everytime I turn it on it starts up and then wobbles majorly like there's HUGE interference. Then it completely fades to white. It's the most pain in the ass thing ever.

So annoyed right now!!!

New game!

We've totally found a fantastic new game to play at work. Unfortunately we have to challenge each other and we're on calls. So it's all a little biased.

http://bemoggle.ecosm.com/

It's awesome. It's like online boggle :)

Today is going quickly thanks to it!!!

Yay. Also, blogger beta is not blocked at work!!! YAY!

Busy busy busy

It's been awhile since I updated. Probably because this time of year is strangely busy. It all seems to go so fast. We've just had our end of year leaders retreat for youth group. Now THAT'S random as it doesn't seem like all that long ago it was start of year retreat.

It was fun, being up in Hamner for the long weekend. We had good times despite the sandfly bites. I seriously got bit on my ass!!! (You cannot even begin to comprehend how annoying that is!!)

It was really good as well. Muz and Janice came out for a day and we had a real significant time with them talking about struggles, things we appreciated about each other and just dealing to some of the problems we have been having.

I sat and talked to Rob yesterday arvo and just cried and cried and cried. Yes, I am SUCH a girl. Lol. But it was really good. It was like I met with God and finally, finally heard him say "I love you" and "You're worth it." Which is something I hadn't heard in awhile. I think I've been internalising things for too long!!! So I feel a lot better about tuesday nights and maybe I can handle it now! At least till the end of the year and then that era is over for me. For now. :)

It was also real cool cuz we appreciated Ness for doing youth work for 15 years. 15!!!! Crazy, eh??? I had such an "interesting" time putting together the video. To the point of wanting to throw my laptop out the window. But it all worked in the end. Yay! I'm actually quite proud of it. The funniest part being the bloopers. *wink*

Anyway, I'm hungry so it definately feels like breakfast (or at least coffee) time!!

You have no idea how this makes me feel. It's about time.

She must have been insane in the first place!!!!!

x _ x

*ded*

I'm so tired lately. It's incredible. Work's been pretty busy recently and all sorts of things have been happening. Crazy times.

Youth group was exhausting tonight and we didn't even do much. I actually honestly can't wait for term to end!!!! (Which is terrible but true!!)

Hamner trip this weekend. SO not looking forward to giving up another weekend so soon. But because of exams it might be small numbers anyway. Hopefully...

FINALLY talked to Tim today about working part-time. We shall see how I go...

Mmmm...

We have new coffee...

It's Robert Harris Hazelnut Dream. It is SO good.

Also...this amuses me no end because it's so cute!!! Lol
Speaking of cookies...I might get off my ass and do some baking today. But only AFTER pilates :) I'm gonna WORK that powerhouse!!!

Awww...

I love my boyfriend.

He's so good to me and I don't know why!!!

Now, I'm not normally one for effusions of love and affection just because I like to keep these things close to my heart. (So to speak)

But he's outdone himself this time so I should say something about it. Firstly, on sunday it was the 6 month anniversary. Which is a significantly long time if you're me and not too long a time if you're him.

We had church - but he got one of his friends to basically break into my house and lay out a treasure trail. Not too extensive a trail but it involved little me to you bears and notes and roses and the Grey's Anatomy season 2 dvd box set AND soundtrack.

Now if that wasn't enough. Because it certainly WAS - he then took me to Orton Bradley Park (which is about a half hour drive) and had a picnic lunch. We hung out there for awhile until it rained and THEN we went home and got changed because he told me he'd made reservations for dinner.

At a REALLY nice teppenyaki place that you can NEVER just walk into. You actually have to make bookings. And he'd made them WEEKS in advance.

He completely outdid himself. And it was just the best day ever. EVER. Real life seems a little mediocre now....

The Roxx

Rockclimbing for Events last night! Excellent!! I was a little wary being the unatheletic sort and I wasn't sure how we'd go...but it was surprisingly fun and actually not as hard as I thought it would be!!! :)

Us learning how to strap ourselves into our harnessess. Fun and VERY attractive!

Scarily high, right???Mitch and Jay - the non climbers...
Heh heh...actual CLIMBING!!
Me attempting to belay with the help of instructor-man!


Contented group photo!!

So yes. VERY fun night. I'd even do it again! Woohoo :)

Bbq was good times. Great turn out, tons of food and it was GOOD too!

Dessert was fantastic. I did a banoffee pie and Janina baked a cheesecake. We also attempted a white chocolate and boysenberry mousse. But it didn't mousse so well. Whoops!

So despite the weather, we managed and had lots of fun :)

My car, on the other hand is causing no end of trouble. I have a flat tyre but the dealer that sold me the car neglected to mention that the wheel nuts are lock nuts - which means that you need a special key to unlock them. Which he neglected to give me.

Hence, we can't change the tyre. Hence the car is undrivable. Hence my dearest boy is trying to sort it out for me as the car is stuck at his place and I'm currently sick in bed.

Yes, sick...again. I swear I'm falling to pieces. My rubbish bin is filling with tissues as I type this. NOT fun...

*thump* *thump*

Lol. Matt Redman's dancing generation is playing and the bass is wicked cool. Teehee.

Today is a day off! I have much to do. Firstly, I want to organise my wardrobe as it has slowly degenerated into something resembling disorganisation in the 5 months we've lived here. *sigh* But that's okay. The painting's going good so I'll hopefully get a bit more done today. Otherwise I'll probably have to wait till next weekend.

And finally there's the bbq tonight...I want to make meat patties, potato salad and maybe banoffee pie - if I summon the energy to walk to the supermarche. Lol.

Meanwhile, iTunes is updating and I'm importing Michael Jackson's number ones - because Michael Jackson rocks my world. Only old-school MJ though. Recently ol' Michael's been a little dodgy. Or a LOT dodgy.

Last night was random, impromtu movie night and food and Liv's. Which was really great. Lots of fun, GOOD food and we watched the Inside Man which is one heckava random movie. But it was surprisingly good - despite my not really liking Denzel Washington too much.

I reccomend it to one and all!!

creative day!!

Hamner yesterday was grand...we left quite late because I decided that my room needed a new layout and so that too awhile...but there's so much more space now and my stylish new MP160 has a table for itself and doesn't live on top of my wardrobe anymore.

Anyway it was absolutely PISSING down with rain up there. And by the time we GOT there it was 5pm. So we had an early tea and hit the hot pools. Which was fun! It was freezing out of the water though!!! But it was nice. Also good because Isaac'll be studying for exams lots now and being stupidly co-dependent I like having time to spend with him.

It's a long weekend! I've spent today making photo blocks and painting. All going to plan I'll be able to sell my photos online soon :)

YAY. Though the verdict is still out on whether or not people will buy them. But I'll post them up on trademe and we'll see how we go! Lol. The painting is more for me. Now that I've moved my room around there's a gappage in wall space. Poop.

But that's okay. I have a giant canvas to use up anyway... :)

Finally...some pictures

Okay, as promised. I have photos. We FINALLY, FINALLY got broadband. Even better, we caved and got WIRELESS broadband. Woot. Yeah, the excitement around here is contagious. We've all installed googleTalk - which has proved beneficial to us not communicating in words but by typing. Although we also discovered it allows you to call people for free. (Which prompted a run from the lounge to bedroom so we could hear each other better...)

Anyway, Kaikoura.

I love it cuz it's by the beach. It's awesome. AND there's SEALS. I love SEALS. (Yes, it does require random capitalization...)

Beach/seal colony when th tide is out and there are no seals there. Look at the mountains!!!
Being the adventurous souls that we are we ventured out further...but still no seals.

Nope...still nothing. Lots of sun though!!!
We had a challenge/bet in which every meal - bar breakfast - had to be seafood. Hence, crayfish for tea!!!

The seagulls got a little hopeful - we threw rocks at them instead. Yeah, mean, I know. But they're such scavengers!!!!!

Sunset from just outside Kaikoura - isn't it pretty!!!

Taking stupid photos in the car :) Teehee.

Food at Seafest - which was great!! This was teppenyaki and it was SOOOO good. Mmmm....

SEALS!!! Aren't they SO CUTE??????? We were walking down the road - on the highway (BAD IDEA) from a seal colony because we were positive we'd seen some further down and then there they were just below us!!! We just stood there watching them for like half an hour. AND THEY WATCHED US TOO!!!! SO CUTE!!!!

FINALLY...a specifically 'awww...' photo to end on...yay!

In a complete change of topic, we went to see The Devil Wears Prada last night and it was GREAT. Anne Hathaway looks SO different in this movie. I loved it. It brought out the commercial side in me because I love pretty clothes and pretty scenes like New York and Paris and I pretend to know lots about high fashion. It's so self-indulgent of me!!!

I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. Which it probably already has in the States. :P

Back!!!

...from Kaikoura!!!

...at work!!!!

...on top???

Lol. Lots of pictures to follow - Kaikoura was awesome, work is less so.

However, I've finally finished with the damned team leader recruitment thing. Yay! Now I don't even have to worry about it anymore.

Last night was Moroccan food with Jeremy and Helen. It was actually really fun :) I was a little concerned that it would be difficult to make conversation. The food was GOOD but highly expensive :P As a one off however, it was great.

And now, to work :P

Gah.

I've barely been at work this week. I managed a half day yesterday. Hopefully I manage at least a half day tomorrow.

I went to the doctor today. $40 later and he tells me that I have a virus and to let it run it's course and that he's not prescribing me anything because there wouldn't be any point.

Gah.

This is why I don't like doctors. Mainly because they never tell me anything I don't really already know. (Of course, now that I've said that - something's gonna come up to prove me wrong!) But I guess it was worth it to make sure the boy had peace of mind.

He's been working pretty hard core on this project of his and he keeps worrying something's wrong with me.

I'm just gutted though. We're supposed to be going to Kaikoura this weekend and I've been confined to either my bed or the couch for the past few days :P

I really want to feel better. Otherwise it's kinda pointless to be going to a Seafood Festival. :P

Something to scare the children:


Lol. Us lit by the bonfire at the Hangi night. The light is really whacked and we look extremely strange!!!!!

Ugh.

Sick day...

Ironic as I've spent the last three days of work scouring the leave calendar to analyse sick leave. I just feel like utter crap and have felt that way since yesterday.

My head feels all stuffy and I'm tired. So, so TIRED. But, naturally, I couldn't get to sleep last night. Because the world is a topsy turvy place like that.

I have no idea what I'm going to do today. The coffee is burnt because we're still unused to the flash-as stainless steel digital Russell Hobbs wonder machine. Someone appears to have put it an hour ahead and as such it had been brewing for 2hours by the time we got up :P

AND there was a giant spider in the sink.

Eww...

I may go back to bed. It sounds so appealing right now!

Inspire(d)

Inspire was pretty awesome!!! That there is the first night's music practice with Wayne. Who is absolutely LOVELY. He's just amazing, great guy, funny and with a real soft heart :)

It was just amazing. I just about lived in church for two days. But I think we all did. It was so exhausting but by the end of every night you were just so hyped that you didn't really want to go home and have it all end.

It was, without a doubt, inspiring. God was so, SO present. In fact, that first night I had this picture of him just walking into the auditorium. Which was pretty cool!

I love stuff like that!

I think this was the first Inspire that I felt so busy! I got to be go-to powerpoint person - which was pretty cool. And it was HUGE for me personally as I absolutely love Wayne and Libby as Parachute band has had a HUGE impact on my faith.


Friday night. What an AWESOME time. I honestly feel so much closer to God. Which is pretty cool as I've felt pretty distant lately. And for me it was just such a great experience and it made me think about all the things I want to do and how I've been so confused about what to do lately.

And I finally have peace. :) Which is awesome.

I also have lots of new music. And I feel like singing and playing again. Which is pretty cool. It's like I have a purpose again.

Awesome :)

What is the world coming to??

In the news tonight: Don Brash - Sex Appeal?

Um. What??

The intrepid reporters of 3 News have taken to the streets in order to establish if the National Party leader has sex appeal.

Hot off the press people, hot off the press :P

Ugh.

Scared Scriptless

We FINALLY managed to get tickets to Scared Scriptless last night. (Collectively we rung the Court Theatre 7 times before we got through!)

It was fantastic!! I love improv comedy and theatresports is always fun. It's like our very own Who's Line is it Anyway?. AND at $27 for two people it's a pretty damn cheap night out - you also feel a whole lot more cultural when you compare it to going to the movies every weekend!

That and the Court Jesters are pretty damned funny!!

All in all a really good night. Yesterday I bought 3 new Cds (Michael Jackson #1s, The Best of Johnny Cash and the Diary of Alicia Keys) - for $30, new jeans, new undies (!!), picked up my photos and just generally spent a lot of money. I love shopping. And days off work. (Muwhaha) Plus it's always funny to go shopping with the bf. He's fun. AND we had really really good Indian for dinner. Fun times...

The hangi's tonight. I don't really want to go - but we already have tickets. And I feel the need to support Mel. (Especially in the peeling potatos department...) So we're going. It should be a reasonable night to tell the truth. I just don't like feeling like I have to make conversation with so many people. :P

The boy's going to town afterwards. (I am not. Can't be bothered to tell the truth. Plus he's going with the friend who doesn't really like me...)

AND...I finally emailed the D&A. They're sending me out a prospectus shortly. Which will be good. I might be going to design school!!! Exciting!!!

relationships

...are hard.

And thus ends my wisdom for the day :P

Hahaha...listening to the tenor cd again. It's like Jem's in the room!!!

Snow trip...

Okay. So I promised photos. *taps fingers while uploading*

I've already mentioned the snow trip was fantastic. We had awesome weather - and to tell you the truth I was just so happy that it got off to a great start as the boy had been the one organising it and he'd been working oh-so-hard.

Which is why when the actual day of planning (ie- saturday) didn't go according to plan I knew he'd be upset. (As he's a perfectionist like me!)

But it was AWESOME on Sunday. It was possibly the BEST weather we could have had - especially given that the forecast wasn't actually that good.

We started of at Gnomes so we could pick up ski gear for about 40 odd people.

They hooked us up with these awesome SINNER pants...lol.

They were a great source of amusement given that we are a church group etc etc. AHAHA...we're so funny. (Yeah, you probably had to be there...)

THEN...after a lot of driving uphill and close to the edge on a rocky gravel road....we made it to Hutt. It looked a little like this:

Seriously...isn't it GORGEOUS??? It was just so pure and white and it was sunny and just utterly utterly FANTASTIC. *sigh*

See...you can see the ski lifts and all the little people travelling in the chairs. So COOL.

I have to admit it was a bit of a mission gathering everyone together and making sure that everyone knew what was happening. AND Hutt screwed up and issued us lift passes for the day before (i.e - Saturday) instead. So we had to feed everyone through AGAIN for lift passes and line them up to get ski/snowboard boots & gear.

Loui makes sure people are tagged and lift passed and good to go...

Us upon arrival. All getting used to the cold and sunshine.

Then we all hit the slopes! Well...technically speaking. Those who actually knew how to board/ski hit the slopes. The rest of us resigned ourselves to lessons!!! They went for about two hours and were only semi-useful. Possibly because there were so many of us. (For example I found out I was goofy half way through the day only after Isaac checked...)

Us attempting to learn the art of snowboarding...lol. Lots of fun. And slipping and sliding. The boys were so impatient though. I'd hate to be their teacher in school!

Chilling out on the beginners slope. We're so cool!!!

I fell over so many times it was scary. Snowboarding appears to use all sorts of muscles that I didn't even realise that I had. Let alone knew how to use!! (And I still don't know how to use them!)

Lunch time!! Loui's yellow pants were ALSO a source of endless amusement! Lol. We attempted to call our group "The Yellow Brigade".

The food was seriously good. Something about exercise builds up a serious appetite. I was so hungry and thirsty by 12.30 it seriously wasn't funny. This is probably the reason why I never really exercise!

Random action shot of me. Don't I just look so cool????? I'm like totally a snowboarding chick!

And finally...we managed the ski lift. So, for your viewing pleasure...here's the view from the top. I warn you...it's seriously AWESOME and AMAZING....

Pretty cool, right?? I think it's awesome :)

Snow

I think I have a cold. :P Keep sneezing. NOT FUN.

BUT snowboard on the weekend...well, firstly it's HARD. Seriously. Could not believe how difficult it was. The boy spent like an hour just trying to teach me to stop. (Stopping is important if you don't want to fall over...) But it is fun - or at least I can see how it would be fun if you actually knew how to do it properly.

I think I've made a promise to go back one day :)

Plus...it was SO HOT on the mountain. Couldn't believe it!!!

Pictures to follow...

showerless

It's been an "interesting" week. On tuesday the shower broke. Broke as in unfixable. (By us, that is!) The landlord couldn't get the plumber in until today.

Two days later.

Two - showerless - days. The boy went home to his parents for a shower as did another flat mate. Meanwhile, me and Trace went to Mel's house and showered there.

Thank God the shower is fixed now!!! (FINALLY) Which means I can potentially have a shower at home tomorrow morning. Yay!

Work has been stupidly busy. Espcially since it's the end of the month :P Boo to work. I'm glad I had a half day today. I'd have cried otherwise.

Ski trip on saturday!!!!!! *freak*

brrr...

I am SO cold. I'm inside and I can't feel my fingers. :P

I should really invest in a pair of gloves. But I really dislike/despise gloves.

WOE.

I hate winter.

I can't believe I've volunteered to SNOWBOARD next weekend. :P I must have lost the plot.

Saturday

It's the weekend!

Today I've:
- gotten a new WoF for my car
- picked up more coffee & decaf & piripiri seasoning
- bought a $50 westfield voucher for the boy's friend's birthday tonight
- bought an extremely girly card that is pink and says "Hey gorgeous! Have a fab birthday!' for said birthday tonight. (Muwhaha)
- bought two new tops (2 for $30!)
- bought an entire skein of wool because I ran out and it was the only one that matched the colour I had
- looked in several different shoe shops but found NOTHING I liked
- bought new mascara and eye drops because my contacts are BAD at the moment
- cleaned the kitchen
- re-arranged the bottom cupboard in the pantry
- cleaned my room
- hung out my washing and flatmate's washing
- had lunch

I can't believe it. It's only 2pm as well. We're going for a walk this afternoon. The weather looks like it's turning again though! :P

I have a feeling I'm going to be exhausted before I even reach the birthday parties tonight. *sigh* Tomorrow's an early start as well!

*click*

And just like that the week's almost over.

O_O

Craziness. It's be moderately busy at work. But mainly, I've been knitting. Yes, knitting.

Teehee. I love it. It's my new "thing" - I'm knitting a scarf. It's not taking too long and I'm running out of wool!

So I shall be going wool shopping this weekend. *nods* That and dressing up like a tennis player. Because tennis-themed 21sts are in. Well, I have a tennis-themed 21st this weekend anyway. I'm probably gonna freeze my ass off, but that's okay :P

Look out for pictures (hopefully)!!!

Okay, choir tonight. Funnn...

I'm downloading Jesse McCartney's Beautiful Soul.

*geek*

Wellington!

Okay, so it's been awhile since I've updated. It's because I've been waiting for my wellington pictures (well, some of them at least...) to be uploaded onto the inter-ama-net. AND I did have them updated only to have work block Blogger for some reason.

Grrr...

SO annoyed about that right now. They're blocking all the sites that keep me entertained when it's quiet.

Did I mention that the trip was awesome and we had a great time?? It's a week ago now. Craziness. It feels like forever ago.

But yes. It was very, VERY cool. And VERY fun. Yay!!! So...I bring you the condensed version of our trip:

Picton harbour on the way out to Wellington. Isn't it gorgeous! We had fantastic weather on the way out. Unfortunately the further into Cook Strait we got the choppier it was. Hence not a very smooth crossing. So not-smooth in fact that the boy had to use a sick bag. Ew...but we managed. On the way back he had sea-sickness stuff and I refused to let him eat. Which is a whole 'nother

story really!
Anyway...we went the to Wellington Art Gallery. Which was quite cool. They had a number of rather interesting exhibits going on which was rather exciting. One rather large private collection as well.

This would be the view of leaving the art gallery. It's like this square-ish area hidden away off Victoria Street in Wellington. (Kinda down the road from where the OfficeMax retail store in Wellington is - yes, I made us walk by, isn't that SAD?????)

It's a very picturesque area though. Especially when you walk to it from the grotty sort of street/city area.

Big silver ball type thing hanging from wires between the buildings. It's actually quite cool. It's all made out of silver ferns. (All very patriotic really...) But it is very cool. And it looks like it took awhile to put it all together. How artistic. And convieniently located outside the art gallery. Wellington is really quite a unique city. I get so used to how flat everything is here in Christchurch. It's like our buildings mirror our landscape and we don't really build big tall buildings etc. But you do see them in Wellington. And it's so much more of a city than Christchurch is. Although I suppose that I'm really used to Christchurch and Wellington is all new and exciting to me. But so many things are just better there. The shopping's pretty good. There's some very very good cafes, with VERY good food. TOO much good food even.

Look!!!!

It's only Te Papa - also known as the national museum of NZ. We went in to check out the LoTR exhibition. (Closing mid August if I'm not wrong) It was awesome. They had all the costumes, some of the models of places like Minas Tirith and props like Aragon's sword and Arwen's Evenstar necklace. AND all the rings of power.

I wanted to take them home with me. NOT because they were rings of power or anything like that...heh heh heh.

We stopped by the harbour/beach to try some self-takes. It took about three tries. AND on top of that Wellington was TOTALLY living up to it's windy city name.

Look at my hair!!!

Lol.

As you can see the niceness of the day wasn't actually that nice. Which was a shame as we could have used a nice day.

Oh well. Haha. The boy looks somewhat sifty. Lol. He's not - too - sifty.

But he was the only one who actually managed to get the self-takes right. I tried quite a few times and it just didn't happen.

This post has been two weeks in the writing and I'll leave you with this now. Haha. Enjoy and I'll let you know the other happenings of the trip at some other stage when Blogger's photo upload thingie-ma-bobbie decides to work itself properly.

It's so cold tonight!!!! Brrrr...