Cybele at NZ fashion week

Well lucky stylishly challenged me has a very talented friend who is one of the designers at Cybele the next big thing in NZ fashion so I got to go free to their catwalk show and it was so much fun. I had my sister with me who knows who everyone is so that made it even better as got loads of goss on all the fashion crazies. Also got to see Trelise Cooper up close one of my all time favourite designers. Also in true Tanya fashion managed to totally do something embarrasing with no idea as walked up to a girl in the crowd and said "I recognise you from somewhere" "Did you used to live in Scotia" luckily she did but as it turns out she is one of the biggest faces in NZ TV so starting the conversation with you look familiar was a bit funny luckily after I explained I had been out of the country during her rise to fame I was let off with a laugh.

Back into the shoe box

On september the 10th (fluckily the same day I left on my world trip a year ago) I moved back into my apartment in the city. I was happy to find that after 5 years and no sightings that everything was still in reasonably good nick. Don't get me wrong still had to do heaps of scrubbing and throwing out before it was deemed liveable by my standards but there really is something so much nicer about your own place as opposed to renting. Still need to work on the decor a bit. And far from having moved all my stuff in yet as most of my artworks and books are still st the folks.

Also brought my first real bed and it was alot of research and alot of hopping on and off beds but well worth it the bed I now have is a top of the line dream machine it even makes me the most morning person I know want to sleep in that little bit longer.

OK back to blogging

So sorry for the long absence, I don't really have a huge excuse just got out of the habit. Lots has happened so will break it all up. For those that don't know I have a new man in my life called Grant. met him through Kev in Melbourne originally and caught up when I got back and it went from there. So that is a nice development and we have been having fun going to movies and on little trips together for the last 2 months.

August update

Well started the month flat out with temping at businesses such as Fairfax, Bluestar, M&C Saatchi, Gibson Rusden which was interesting to get an insight into what is happening round town in the agencies.

Then headed to semi permanent lectures with my Fashion designer friend Emma to get inspired by lots of local and international speakers. Was most inspired by a company called UVA who do lighting production for people like massive attack and the V&A. Also loved Misery a local grafitti artist who had dancing sausages as part of her talk.

Seen some fabulously funny movies - chuck and larry and knocked up. Saw a great DVDs blood diamond, read a great book Lance Armstrongs biography.

Went to an opening of my sisters boyfriends art at her gallery and also got to see some great porn pics from the victorian age and the 60s so different to todays.

Went to see Greg Johnson perform at the sky city wasn't overly impressed but his support act was amazing.

Went to see Sir Ian McKellen in King Leah and it was amazing and his naked seen was a surprise, he has a big willy for an old guy.

And of course most important went to work at Marker for the first time. I absolutely love my job and the people just hope they love me back and decide to keep me round for a while.

Art Cars

As dad is a fellow on the designers institute of NZ I luckily get to go to all sorts of inspiring things. Last night we were lucky enough to hear talks from 2 transport designers. One was even one of the inventors of go carts. Also got to see 4 of the art cars that BMW have sponsored over the years. My favourite was one by Liechenstein who had drawn comic style the landscape as it whipped by onto the car.

In Memory of Graham

It is a very sad time for our family as we have had to say a final farewell to our cousin Graham. He will be sadly missed.

Rainy Day in Murawai

well sunday saw Grant and I head for a nice drive to Murawai beach for a brisk walk in the rain. It really showed me how unfit I was though as by the walk back the sand walking was killing me. I love love love beaches though and no rain was going to stop me from enjoying myself. we also saw a few crazy rock fisherman still all alive when we left.

A wild and windy day in Kumeu

I was spoilt rotten today by the Mayo family with whitechocolate and raspberry cake and chorizo pasta on a trip to the beautiful west auckland suburb of Kumeu. I also got to play with a very well looked after cat called George and 2 great kids Ali and Hayden (oh and of course there mum Debs too).

Thanks for the great day.

Congratulations to me

Well finally I can proudly say I am no longer a bum. I have finally secured a job for myself at a company called Marker Studio. The best part is its on queen street so only a small stroll down from my apartment which it will be nice to be back in my own place again after such along time away. My role is management of the studio but also has some hands on design involved too so basically my kinda job. I think I scared the shop clerk when I squealed at the acceptance phonecall she thought I had just found out I was pregnant very funny.

Anyway big picture this means I can finally start to live again call all you for catch ups and hopefully plan a trip to melbourne soon (pre christmas).

Film Festival fever

well I tried not to go as am trying to be good and save a little but to no avail. As always I was swept up in the tide of film festival fever. I did however only go to 4 which is rather a small number to the amount I have been known to see. I finally saw the movie to the crazy 80's book perfume and it was incredible I don't think apart from gone with the wind, and lord of the rings I have ever seen such a satisfying adaptation and it wasnt an easy one to portray as it is an extremely weird story of a murderer. I also saw a funny one in the vain of 4 weddings and a funeral called Death and a funeral that had the crowd in stitches. and two artsy fartsy ones called painted on film animation and one about Edith Collier a female nz painter from the early modernist period.

I also had the added treat of being reminded what a romantic and dreamlike place the civic is to see performances. (So good it even features in the movie king kong) pictures added.

Congrats to the Jordans

Well it is with a big smile on my face that I congratulate Sara and Jordy on the arrival of their second bambino Jack Henry Jordan Born on Tuesday 24th July. I can't wait to pop over and see him.

Pictures of my sisters house

It is out in the west in the Waitakere Ranges.

Which star do I look like?

www.myheritage.com

fun site to see which celebrity your face is most like.

Happy Birthday to all the July babies

Sara, Kevin, Sean and Hayley. Hope you all have a great day. Also goodluck to soon to be new july direen.

Just some nice pics I have taken

some are from the apartment in Viaduct Harbour others are trees from victoria park

What else...

Well I had a big surprise 2 weeks ago as Kev came to visit for a day so that was nice to see him.

I have also finally seen Harry potter 5 which I loved. Only down side was we had booked great seats and these kids had decided to take them so we had to play bad cop and tell them to bugger off. but was worth it for the good view.

I also saw Amazing grace with my dads rotary club which is a sad but very moving film about the slave trade in England.

I also saw nancy drew which was a bit of fun and had to see it as read so many of the books as a young girl.

Pic of my sisters cat they are so cute cute cute I had forgotten how much time wasting can be had playing with animals.

My sister has moved in

Well I have to say my sisters house move has to go down as one of the hardest I have ever heard of. Take two hoarders mix in the fact that one is a woodworker and they are both artists and you have amazing amount of stuff and fragile and heavy stuff at that. It took 3 trucks, 6 trailors, 10 carloads and alot of hard work to get it all out to her cabin and usually at night in a bush and the rain and freezing cold.

I know now I can survive any move. I did score some couches though for my living room so not all bad. Will send some pics when I have seen the place in daylight finally.

Blackouts and freelance

Well it has been school holidays so the streets are very quiet which is nice as I have been doing freelance for a company called Gibson Rusden based in the CBD and it means I can zip there in back in no time. I have also figured out that cars are cheaper than pub transport as I have worked out that a return trip city costs me $3 in petrol and $7 in allday parking vs $9 on the bus so sorry no competition and a 10 min taxi ride costs about $35 so way to dare.

I have had a great time freelancing as the team are really nice and I am doing fun jobs for Lion Nathan and the auckland mayor. But it was hard to make a good impression when on day two we had a massive storm which left my home in a blackout for 2 whole days so no straightening irons or showers or clean clothes very funny.

I think I am starting to think a drought is not so bad as atleast the weather seems fairly predictable and calm.

Another Haircut

So my hairdresser is slowly working on me she is a whizz at recognising the most attractive hairstyle for your face shape and complexion which for me is a long tapered bob and a reddish shade. I am not ready for short yet so we are taking baby steps.

Busy bee

Well I still don't have a fulltime job but I have been working like a crazy lady as have been doing heaps of babysitting, Helping Sean in Melbourne with surveys, working at my sisters gallery (of which the picture of the spunky girl in front of art is Chanty my little sis)and doing some freelance design for M&C saatchi and Rotary so maybe this is a good sign that something will happen soon.

Saw a great movie called other peoples lives about postwar east germany so something not as talked about as the war itself and as such more interesting for me especially as it happened in my lifetime. Then saw an average blockbuster in Fantastic 4 silver surfer Jessica looked too much like barbie and the whole story was a bit predictable.

Also I am very lucky as I am getting to stay in a very flash apartment in shed 23 in the Viaduct harbour for a week as it is owned by my sisters wonderful boss Jenny. So its been a bit of luxury waking up with the most amazing views and the buzz of the city on my doorstep.

Thanks Chanty and Jenny. xx

North Shore City in Blackout

Well I was studiously trying to rejig my CV for a management angle when low and behold the power went out. Luckily geek that I am I had a torch ready in both my rooms for just such occurances and helped mum and dad to get the candles and radio going.

Also got some neat shot of the city lights without those from the shore.

NEW ZEALAND HERALD
Tens of thousands of homes were plunged into darkness last night after an explosion at a substation caused a power cut that crippled Auckland's North Shore.

Lights on the Northern Motorway and harbour bridge were cut, as was power to homes and shops in many suburbs, including parts of Greenhithe and Albany.

Cameras monitoring the motorways and traffic lights were also affected, as were North Shore businesses, including cinemas, which lost power halfway through screenings.

Engineers were last night still investigating what caused the Wairau Rd substation blast, which happened at 7.43pm.

Power to about 30,000 homes was mostly restored by 8.20pm.

Bookclub

I am happy to say I have joined a bookclub through my friend Leanne and its great fun lots of girls get together and discuss the mammoth amount of books they have read from the communal collection. I normally read a book or two max per month but these ladies seem to get through up tp 12 - yeaks will have to pick up my pace.

Also they had a theme of something sweet so there was loads of yummy food to eat. I made stained glass cookies and if I do say so myself they were scrummy.

Creative Suite 3

Well can I just say wow wow wow. The updated tools that Adobe have come up with basically make the sky the limit and will once learned to memory make the time it takes to create amazing artwork miniscual. Oh if only I had a spare NZ$4,000 for a computer update and another spare NZ$2,000 for the programs. I take donations :)

Ambulances, Burgers and Shrek

Well I have had a busy wee weekend since I last blogged as Saturday I caught up with Grant - Kevs best friend and my old flatmate which was great to share the experiences of coming back to NZ after such a long break.

Then we had high dramas at night as mum was struck down with crazy pain so we popped her in an ambulance and sent her to A&E to be looked at - luckily after some awful pains it turned out to be a kidney stone and the horror had passed by 6am Sunday.

Then I went out to Burgerfuel for lunch the most amazing burger joint and had one called a bastard (1/3 lb ground beef, melted cheddar, beetroot, mango, avocado, bacon, salad, relish, aioli.) - barely fitted in my mouth and had crazy things in it.

Then it was off to see Shrek the third which had me rolling in my seat with laughter - I absolutely love Puss in Boots he is such a riot.

Oh and for all the you tube fans out there have a look at Battle at Kruger (A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park while on safari) its the most incredible example of the survival in the wild I have ever seen.

Anyway tonight is my sisters-boyfriend Murray's 35th Birthday so must go help celebrate - Happy Birthday Murray

NZSO

So I still don't have a job but am getting loads of interviews so thats a good start. I have also managed to pick up a little work from my sister at the gallery and that with the babysitting and some potential work through Sean in Melbourne means I can afford to go out atleast once a week.

So this weeks treat was to go and see the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra last night. It was a really good performance with 3 pieces (DVORÁK Cello Concerto, NIELSEN Helios Overture , NIELSEN Symphony No 4 The Inextinguishable) and a feature of cello with touring artist GAUTIER CAPUÇON from France. He was just what you would expect from a classical muso long hair that he would maniacally flick with the powerful parts of the music and legs that would rock and tap. The conductor also seemed to be performing more of a modern dance than actually keeping time he was quite funny.

Whats been happening?

Well not much except lots of job searching - on the upside though I have been having alot of interviews and have even made it to round two with one company so keep your fingers crossed that this id the week of action. I am even turning into a bit of a networker and going to events to meet and greet very unlike me but the next one will be good as get to hear about the new creative suite program about to be launched.

I have also been doing lots of fun babysitiing with Mia and she is just starting to formulate words like hello, eye, nose, mouth so very very cute.

As for my cooking made my first ever stew last night and if I do say so myself was very nice and just right for a cold wet night.

What else? well I have been to see the movie history boys which was a bit of a laugh and full of lovely poetic phrases. Speaking of poetry mum is trying to suck me into the world of crosswords but I am afriad all they do is show me how much I don't know. my favourite question this week was what is the name for a whale with a massive horn on its nose? how on earth would I know that?

Anyway here are some pics of the amazing view from my parents house.