xmen

OK so I just have to say it I love Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the xmen franchise. The latest movie is fantastic, every character is extremely well cast, theres a good story tieing all the elements of the follow on movies and some fabulous action scenes. If you love comics and action get out and see it.

Anzac Day

For the first time in years I got up early and went to participate in the Dawn parade at the Auckland War Memorial Museum and I am glad I did as it is so nice to remember the past and what amazing things people did to make the wonderful free lives we live today. I always get a bit cut up too when a large group of kiwis sing the national anthem, must be a patriot at heart.

My new bike

OK so after lots of saving I have finally paid off my bike and I love it I had completely forgotten the joy of the wind in your face and the sites flashing by. I have only had it for 5 days but have managed to get on it and go for a ride every one of them. Saturday Leanne and I went for a wind battling ride along the bays which we decided deserved rewarding so on return stopped at the French markets and had an ooohhh sooo yummy crepe.

Movie catchup

Ok so anyone who knows me is aware that I love the movies and sacrifice watching pretty much any TV to go and see films at my local cinema. I thought I would recap on ones I have seen at the big screen this year.

Dragonball: Evolution - 6/10
Monsters vs Aliens 3D - 7/10
The Reader - 10/10
Watchmen - 10/10
Valkyrie - 6/10
Man on a Wire - 7/10
Slumdog Millionaire - 8/10
Revolutionary Road - 9/10
The Spirit - 6/10
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 8/10
Twilight - 6/10

a fun wedding design

OK so in the last few years I have not done much in the way of design as have concentrated on management so when the odd love job comes my way instead of sighing in despair of the time it will take out of my freetime I jump at the chance. So recently I had the chance to do all the wedding stationery for Debbie and Andrews big day and it was fantastic as they were willing to take a risk and do something different so we created a campaign of sayings that suited each piece and highlighted their letters. Plus instead of a massive amount of paper we created a website for them that had all the travel, hens night, gifts etc... details on it. My next project was creating a catalogue of art with 40 pages of images and info in 3 days boy was that a challenge but with my sisters help we did it.

Bridge Projects A Winters Tale

Just a quick note to say I was lucky enough to see Shakespeares a Winters Tale with some amazing actors from London and the States and directed by Sam Mendez. It was truely captivating and Ethan Hawke really has that x factor that makes you completely drawn to him. It was also so wonderful to see him live as along with Johnny Depp he was my first star crush and one of the first movies I saw without parents was White Fang not cinema genius but I loved it all the same. If it comes to your town don't miss it.

My birthday today

I love my birthday as its the only day of the year you get spoilt rotten. I have had lots of lovely emails, facebooks, texts and chats so thanks everyone.

I have also been given a facial voucher, some money towards my dream bike, tickets to see Ethan Hawke live on stage (which I have seen and will blog about separately) a candle and so on so very lucky girl.

I am now off to dinner and a laser dome show about the galaxy and stars so can't wait.

Hope everyone is having as great a day as me.
T

Easter MMMMMMM

Well I have had a chocolate overload easter, I managed to stumble across a little something called a chocolate wonderland being held at my neighboring hotel so my sis and I went along and stuffed our faces with everything on the buffet, imagine, pudding, mousse, cake, truffle, fondue, slices, tarts and more luckily we had peppermint tea to help settle the stomachs.

Then on Monday I had fun at my friend Leannes playing pass the egg - which I was the worst at, balloon pop and the easter egg hunt. Never under estimate a competitors speed.






Anyway I am on sugar detox now as had more chocolate than I have had in ages and am actually put off it now, a very strange sensation for me.

Hope you all had a wonderful easter.

I must be getting older

So I am declaring this the year of absent mindedness as I have now locked myself out of my apartment twice, lost my car keys and totally forgotten to go to a play. I am not sure I can blame this all on getting old however the big 31 is looming in a week so maybe I can.

My other observation is I can't give up on paper as I decided to let go of my much loved paper diary this year and go 100% digital but because of this I totally missed going to a play I had tickets for on Sunday night, I think the key is you need to have an iphone or blackberry not a fliptop motorola to do this.


What else, well I have started to pay off my dream push bike (seller described it as a nana bike) so can't wait for that as have not had the joy of riding in well over 3 years. I have also been getting back into my crafty zone and made some easter baskets full of homemade goodies for my sis and mum and my first ever batch of hot cross buns. I am now going to make them every year as they are fairly easy and oh so yummy.

March Rundown

OK so will start with all the wishes for Feb and March

Happy Birthday - Kathleen, Isabel, Eleanor, Alex, Mum, Ellen, Noemi and Elisa
Congrats on Nuptuals - Nao & Karl and Justin & Amber
Congrats on engagements - Anna and Wanda

no doubt have missed something like a new born or someone important but trust me its not intentional there are just too many occasions in summer to keep up with.

7th Went for a weekend away up North at Waipu cove where I oooh and aaahed at some glow worms played cricket for the first time in 20 years wore a mustache and whilst drunk on a bottle of feijoa vodka managed a carkey losing midnight swimming all nighter. Oh and during this drunken haze have recollections of learning about the solar system and lighthouses by the resident sage of the evening Carl.

12th Saw as part of the Auckland festival a cabaret singer called Camille O'Sullivan who was absolutely amazing a cross between edith piaf, judy garland and Dita von teese if you get the chance don't miss seeing her.

13th went to a heavy metal band lead by my friend Greg and with the help of some very good earplugs actually enjoyed myself

14th annual NZ beer festival was alot of fun we all went dressed as cowboys and indians and had a great time fav beer of the day - Manuka infused Mata boutique beer




15th yes I actually survived the round the bays 8.4km walk the following day BARELY

16th surprise surprise came down with a horrid ear infection

18th went to some intellectual art talks by NZ artists Fiona Jack and Megan Jenkinson which was interesting learnt alot about the 1900s colonisation of Auckland and the way the eye registers after colours.

21st went along to Auckland first taste festival and tried food from all of Auckland top restaurants and chefs - highlights The French Cafes pork belly and Mudbrick Cafes red wine icecream and olive oil truffle mmmmmmmm next year I am saving so I can try even more. Came away with the yummiest avocado oil, lemon honey and ginger cordial and specialty cheeses.

Later that day went to a play written and directed by Oliver Driver which was astounding and devastating and hilarious and just so worth the miniscual $35.

22nd Celebrated Noemis brthday and her folks being over from the states at a huge yum cha restaurant down in the viaduct harbour - still not sold on Chinese food (allergies to msg, and seafood don't help) - and as for their millions of ways to make variations on jelly desserts are just not worth it, leave dessert to the french I say.

23rd the fav event on my monthly calendar bookclub where I get to hang out with an amazing bunch of women who all inspire me and love talking about our different angles on the stories we read.

28th The most magical wedding I have ever been to where the beautiful bride looked like a princess straight out of a disney movie and the entire group of invitees were in tears

31st Took mum out to Nathan King who was amazing and Duffy live who is lucky she has an absolutely incredible voice as if she hadn't it would have been the worst $100 I had ever spent on a concert as they had spotlight glaring in our eyes all night and there was a 40 minute gap between support act and duffy coming on with ligts up and the radio on, plus all her songs blended into one and even the slightly more original Rockferry didn't rescue her, oh and revving the audience up finally on the last song is a bit too late - don't recommend her unless its in an intimate setting like a pub.

February rundown

OK so I have been really hopeless at doing my diary in the last two months but hopefully when you see my next two update rundowns on what I have been up to you might understand.

February
12th Finished stage one of my renovations so only a shelf in the wardrobe and walls in the kitchen left to be painted.



17th I was graced with a very welcomed visit by Kathleen over from Melbourne for her first taste of NZ, I managed to scare her to death up the skytower, get her vino drenched on Waiheke, photographed outside Outrageous fortune house, eating the largest fresh strawberry icecream ever, wowed by rain forrest vistas, whooshing down waterslides into hotpools, dancing hoola with polynesian drag queens, dancing queen moves with Bjorn again at food and wine fest and bouncing at symphony under the stars capped off with lazers fireworks and the national anthem and this was all in 5 days so as you can imagine she was glad to be getting home for a rest.






and finally I have done 7 inductions of new people at marker in 9 weeks so lets just say I know it in my sleep now.

what a week

so firstly to all my aussie friends hope you are all OK as it seems like the worlds weather has truly gone crazy.

I have had a busy week, Bookclub a highlight of my monthly calendar, more renovation stuff of course, am over that, a farewell, testing out the new highway north, learning all about the new copyright law section 92a coming into effect in late Feb, and then the two highlights, Ascention winery concert with 3 kiwi legends, Op Shop, Anika Moa and Dave Dobbyn which was fantastic and finally the annual lantern festival which was even more pretty than last year.

Congratulations Guys

A big whoppee for my friends Aaron and Brigette on the happy arrival of their first son Thomas on Saturday.

design fault

It cracks me up sometimes when you see the stupidity of some peoples ideas right in front of your eyes. Auckland recently spent alot of money to make the place prettier (apparently) and one of these improvements was widening footpaths so the trees had to be circled with tarseal as you can see originally they thought large loose stones on a hill was going to cover the roots and look nice not really taking into account, wind, rain, gravity or people that they would just stay in place which of course never worked so now they have glued the stones in - can't imagine the 100% seal is too good for the tree.

renovations day 3

So now after parting with alot of money I have new walls and wall plugs - can see it taking shape slowly. Can't wait to get a coat of paint on to really get a good impression of how it will look finished.

Demolition before rebirth

I have finally saved enough to get the renovations done on my apartment that I have been dreaming about for 9 years its quite cathartic seeing walls smashed down and beams going up. Will have more pics as the transformation continues.

Happy 40th Anniversary (Ruby)

In a world full of divorces my parents have actually made it to their 40th Wedding anniversary a pretty amazing achievement. If you are wondering what their advice is they don't have much bar compromise sometimes, Argue always - keeps the fires burning and never gets boring and marry someone who is your best friend. If you are wondering why they are both dressed in red its because we all went out for dinner in ruby coloured clothes.

Christmas and New Years

Happy 2009 everyone hope yours all started with a bang like mine.

I was responsible for cooking the Christmas dinner and hosting this year and after 3 days of prep it went off really well (I am biased of course) Unfortunately in my flurry of asctivity on the day I didn't take any pics but below is a menu of what was served.

Entree
Mini sesame seed sausage rolls
puff pastry tarts with goats cheese, tomato and thyme

Mains
Sage butter and Lemon Roast Chicken
Golden syrup and orange glazed Ham
Honey mustard carrots and sweet potato
Roast potatoes
Coriander, sesame and pumpkin salad
Pea and broadbean salad
asparagus

Dessert
homemade Cherry, Strawberry, Maple walnut and dark chocolate icecream with sorbet top
Plum pudding with brandy cream and custard
mini toblerone mousse cups
Choc dipped strawberries
Mince tarts

so mmmmmmmmm! it was good all topped off with a summer pimms punch

On boxing day I headed up north to Taupo Bay for 8 days of bliss camping, swimming, reading, sleeping and eating. It was a lovely beach. I was away with a group of 9 and during the week we had fun on the blow up Jolly Rodger, saw dolphins, faught off mozzies and sea lice, ate NZ's best fish and chips, found out what an octo (beer) funnel was, star gazed, played oodles of Jenga and asshole and generally had a great time.

On return I caught up with the holiday movies and saw Australia, loved it but couldn't help compare to Nicoles Far and away movie and american cowboy and indian flicks, Twilight which I enjoyed as love the whole Vampire thing and finally the best of the bunch the curious case of Benjamin Button which was an amazing idea of a person being born with a brain that ages but a body that gets younger - talk about make me cry.

Anyway am back at work now but trying to keep the holiday buzz going.