Elf Yourself by Officemax

My sister sent me these hilarious skits of my family doing disco and hip hop. Well worth a play.

The Hip Hop version

The Disco version

now if only I had all these moves in real life.

My little sis turns the big 30

Last post for the night. A little one to say how proud I am of my little sister for all she has achieved in the last 30 years and with such style and enthusiasm. Plus she doesn't look a day older than her 21st another blast of a party.

Hope our next 30 together are just as much fun - love you xxxx

Natural beauty and Swashbuklers

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the authentic beauty tour of the 100% Natural Living Nature brand and it was really inspiring. Not only because of the amazing products they produce and the benefits of plants from our very own back door. But also because we had the chance to listen to two inspiring Kiwi women, Lorraine Downes and Petra Bagust, both who are wonderful examples of beauty inside and out. Anyone stuck for Christmas presents should consider these products as they are really really good. My favourite is the refreshing body lotion it glides on so nicely, smells good enough to eat and makes your skin glow.

Check out their website as they really are producing some amazing products with these super ingredients:
Harakeke, Kelp, Kumerahou, Manuka Honey, Manuka Oil, Totarol, Halloysite Clay, Calendula

After this we went for dinner at a restaurant I have driven past atleast 1,000 times and always been curious but never been in and I have to say it's a must. Swashbucklers has it all a crazy theme and decor, fantastic service, massive food and seafood seafood seafood for those lovers as well as a stunning outlook over the harbour and all at a good price.

Te Rau Rainbows

I went for a drive to Te Rau and on the way we saw the most spectacular rainbow of which no photo can do justice as it was massive, perfect in arc, Featured a second one above, had the most vibrant light and featured every colour of the spectrum. There were more cars than just us pulled over to wonder at its magnificence.

Whilst there I saw more lady birds than I think I have ever seen and tried a lemonade fruit for the first time and man are they yum. I am sure the rainbow and the lady bird were signaling a change in my luck.

Then we headed back to town to celebrate the end of Movember at the official Gala party. My Mo Bro raised a fab $365 for his efforts. There were some very funny outfits and crazy personalities on the night both over shadowing the actual Mo's. I dressed up as a hawaiian gal which was fun to get into the spirit.

My favourite Mo of the night was definitely the Leprechaun as he even went through the pain of bleaching it before he dyed it green - that's what I call commitment to your outfit. Colonel Sanders was pretty funny as well.

Then to round out the weekend of Charity on Sunday I went to the Santa Parade to help collect donations for the Leukemia and Blood Foundation. It was the most amazing sunny day and my duo ended up raising $200 so not too bad an effort. This year saw alot of really wonderful balloons.

Thanksgiving in NZ

So while traveling around the USA I noticed alot of pumpkins and advertising for Thanksgiving so I decided to buy the main ingredient for their famous pumpkin pie and bring it back home to make my own to serve on the day.

Now of course we don't celebrate this in NZ but I made a variation of it and made my guests say what they were grateful for while we had Turkey and pie. It was very heart warming and the pie was really really good - I could see myself making this a tradition.

Harry Potter 7

I was one of the people swept up in the Harry Potter Book craze and loved every bit (well except for the tent part) but I have to say that every movie rendition albeit they keep improving never quite get there. I figure because they almost need to be redone with adults as the target audience. In reality they are pretty gruesome stories and way too scary for kids. This was a good flick though with beautiful cinematography and I love Helena Bonham Carter in it.

Fun filled summer

So even though the weather decided to turn stormy we made the most of it. We started with a divine dinner at Rocco including their amazing churros. Then went along the following day to the second Auckland Taste Festival and it was fantastic. We noticed alot of these three ingredients duck, beetroot and goats cheese. Our favourite meals were:

Dish 1 - Dine by Peter Gordon - Pan-seared scallops with pickled leeks, Clevedon buffalo mozzarella, chorizo caramel and heilala vanilla dressing.

Dish 3 - Euro - Veal rump with parsnip puree roasted fennel, zucchini & orange jus.

Dish 3 - Harbourside - Rose pannacotta, strawberry & pistachio salad, orange blossom dressing.

There were many other delightful tastings as well at Bracu, Prego, Toto, Clooney and Mudbrick.

Then it was off to see the fabulous Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Civic theatre. The crowd were so much fun with several hairy men dressed in fishnets and heels. I have not been to a play/sing along show before and I have to say it was alot of fun doing the time warp with a massive crowd. We were also lucky enough to be sitting next to George Henare a well respected thespian in NZ. If that was not enough we also had the creator Richard O'Brien as narrator so it was a very special show.

We then went for a much needed bite at Tanuki's cave a must stop for locals and visitors alike.

The following day we headed out for a big breakfast/lunch at Verona's on our way we witnessed some falling angels very dramatic and luckily no cars beneath as they fell to earth.

Then I had to say farewell to Regan after an amazing weekend of fun.

Back to the workforce

There is a reason I have not been online very often for the last month and that is that I landed an amazing job with an advertising agency called Raydar and as with any settling in period I have been on a steep learning curve and dropping dead every night but the month is over now so I am slowly getting into a rhythm and as such am back to blogging.

I also think that it is rather fitting that it starts with the letter R as the final link in the circle of my previous blog "The R Word"

November 14 - 20
Art and Anarchy Tour
This was an inspiring tour of my local area and the history of some of the public art and architecture. I have always loved the Vegas billboard and the very amazing new Iron bank but new discoveries of the Maori Hall and stained glass entrance to Mercury were lovely surprises. Along with finding out the Moses in my park below my window is a full size replica of the same marble as the original Michelangelo.

I was lucky enough to attend the launch of next years Auckland arts festival 2011 programme. It was a wonderful event showcasing the arts to come and with one of the best inspiring speeches I have heard in ages and made by our very own super city mayor Len Brown - he even sang to us and it made me feel happy that I had voted for the right person.

Then I went along to see Joyce Campbells latest exhibition at Two rooms a most magical photographic series of the spirit of New Zealand.

My wonderful friend Regan came over from Melbourne for a visit and gave me the most beautiful cushion handmade by her. It also gave me an excuse to put up the Christmas decorations early, jiggle around to the carols and burn the festive spices.

The Social Network

On the weekend I went to see the movie depicting the beginnings of the phenomenon that is Facebook called The Social Network and like the doco "Exit through the gift shop" a few weeks earlier it was kinda horrifying as it reinforced that this generation, people seem OK with burning everyone around them for singular success and fame. I think I am turning into a hippy as I really would rather be broke than hurt a friend to make a penny. Worth a look though on the eve of Facebook launching their email competitor to Hotmail, Yahoo and Gmail. Also does have a great soundtrack and was extremely well cast - big ups for Justin taking on the devil role, much as I try it is hard to not taint the real person with the Characters they portray.

Tea of the month

On my wonderful holiday in the USA I spent a day at Disneyland and whilst there I purchased a fun tin of tea called Wonderland "Mad tea party blend" . It really is one of the nicest blends I have ever come across, with a light blend of floral's over an Indian black tea base. Now if only there was a Disney store in New Zealand so I could get some for my friends for Christmas.

Yay for flowers

I had a most unexpected, but very welcomed surprise arrive last night in the form of some pretty indigo flowers. I don't know about you but I rarely receive them, but they are one of my favourite presents so always sure to put a smile on my face.

Chocolate Shortage = Tragedy

read this

Chocolate: Worth its weight in gold?

I am now soooooo buying fair trade chocolate to maybe keep it coming as the thought of a drought is unbearable.

Woman to admire

I have just finished reading Theresa Gattungs book "Bird on a wire" and have to say it has been an eye opener on so many topics that to save words I am going to cheat and list them below:
• How strong the media's influence is on the public in NZ (and how often uninformed and skewed)
• How wrong we are to try and fracture big businesses
• How we need education on what makes this country survive and get behind those industries as a country even though they may be manned by the smallest population
• That I never want to be a CEO
• That the government both National and Labour make some major mistakes at times to win favour in what really is too short an election time-frame for any good legislation to see its true long-term goals come into effect
I would highly recommend this book as it covers many an interest from business, management, being a woman, promoting NZ, and so on.

Eat Pray Love and crash

I finally went along to see the movie rendition of a book I really enjoyed Eat Pray Love. I have to say there are actresses that are for men and ones who are for woman and Julia Roberts is definitely the latter.

I was very critical of the casting of her in this role but she was marvelous and captured the true spirit of the three phases the author went through so well. The soundtrack is also really good for lazy afternoons.

However in my rosy glow walking home I had the weirdest thing happen to me — I was run over by a bicycle - never thought that could happen — but it did and boy was it painful so I am now sporting a massive bruise on my butt and thigh and just when my legs had finally recovered form the 1/2 marathon :P

Sculpture on shore

Dad and I went along to the Sculpture on Shore exhibition today. To help support the Women's refuge and to get some inspiration. Turned out to be a mammoth amount of artwork ranging in materials, scale and subject although did notice two predominant themes of war and nature.

Most moving artist for me was Sean Crawford with two works one entitled "Ewe Me and the Bomb" and the other as pictured below "Dominion - Redux" which you could see was about our greatest export in the literal being sacrificed but on closer look it was made up of poppies so on researching the work I found their was a double meaning of the sacrifice of the men who fought in Gallipoli. A definite thinking man type artist and one to watch in my opinion.

Sean Crawford - Dominion - Redux

A couple of other favourites

Gregor Kregar - Twisting the Void 1, 2009

Cat Auburn - Stealing the luck of George Stubbs, 2010

Saskia Baetens-Van Gils - Rabbit Ascending Staircase, 2010

Windy Weekend

Is it just me or are beautiful blue skies just not quite as nice when they are accompanied by southerly winds?

Anyway been keeping busy with the job hunt and if nothing else am getting to know the lay of the land in terms of Marketing, Advertising and Studio's out there.

Friday tried to help raise awareness for the plight of the Whales and also had my first AK Samba experience having a go at the bells, which was alot of fun and much harder than it looks. Loved the body painted people as pretty brave in the cold wind.

Saturday went to the Auckland Cultural festival which was great fun watching the parade of so many different cultures and then trying lots of yummy new foods. The parade commentator was very naughty asking things like the pretty Thai girls to come closer so he could make a proper assessment and telling his colleague to lay off the sausages as his gut was already too big.

Change the present, change a future - Oxfam

At university I did my main written assignment on charities and at the time found that a few really aligned with my values. Some that really were making some positive changes in the world. One of them was Amnesty International and the other was Oxfam. I think Oxfam's fun campaign of making you able to choose your donation like a shopping experience is very original and smart and I love choosing between donkeys and ducks at Christmas as my support to them.

If you have not seen their Oxfam Unwrapped campaign check it out here.

First strawberries for summer

I managed to fill a bowl with strawberries from my balcony garden today. Can't wait to have them for dessert tonight. There really is no substitute for the joy of eating something you grew yourself.

My first half marathon

Last year I tried out my first 1/4 marathon so this year I decided to up the anti and give the 1/2 a go and I did start out training but with a trip overseas and a bout of bronchitis my last 6 weeks were a little low on it. None the less I made it to the finish and was really happy with my time as I improved on my rate from last year. It was also an amazing thing to get to run over the harbour bridge.

Hopefully next year though Adidas picks a slightly more boring colour as the high vis yellow was kinda yuk.

Only downer is hobbling round like a grandma so stiff and sore for the next two days.

I also managed to drag myself out for the always fun Diwali festival as the dance shows are always amazing, the food good and fed my obsession for firework shows.

Also really love the gates they have installed in the Aotea square.

Red and Lee Child

So in an attempt more for myself than anything to keep a record of what I read here is the latest book.

I just finished my second Lee Child book and even though it was totally out of order I still really enjoyed it I think he will be my choice for summer lazy days. This one was kidnapping and militia cults so quite exciting and weird.











I also saw the movie Red with the most amazing cast featuring some fav's of mine Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman. A shout out to Bruce also as he looks amazing for a guy in his 50's. The scene where he hops out of the car and shoots at Karl Urban's character is simply amazing choreography.

Sandspit and Casablanca

We started by packing early on Thursday night and then after having a lovely dinner at another local Japanese place to my house called Shochiku which adds to the list of Renkon, Kens Yakitori and one I can't remember the name of on corner of Queen Street and City Road.

We set off at noon on Friday and were in Sandspit not long after to setup camp and basque in the sunshine. It was a nice spot with lovely views of the harbour and really neat retro styled decor to all the amenities. Night one went OK a bit cold but luckily I had packed the hot water bottle and the beautiful sounds of the moreporks more than made up for it.

Day two we just relaxed in the sun read our books, went shell hunting, for a bush walk and generally relaxed. Love the crazy rocks in the area and now can tell the difference between, Bubble, Cockle, Muscle, Scallop, Turret, Biscuit, Tulip, Ostrich Foot and Oyster shells.

Sunday more sun bathing and book reading before heading into Matakana's Ascention winery to listen to some music and watch Casablanca under the stars alot of fun - especially some of the remarks yelled from some very inebriated audience members.

Monday we went to Charlies gelato garden and had the sweetest strawberries I have had in years and seriously the best blueberry gelato in the world. Then we went for a drive to Snells beach, Algies Bay and Scotts Landing all stunning on a bright sunny day before heading home.