Hot pools, nuts and honey

What a way to start a weekend off by heading out west to Helensville and starting the morning at Parakai hot pools. I have never been to this particular hot pool park but it was nice, nothing showy like Waiwera but no nudists like Palm springs across the road. It was very relaxing and by noon extremely popular from people of all nationalities. As in the area we also had macadamias at macnut and some delicious food at bees online before heading home. I then finally got to watch Helvetica the movie about the font which as a designer was extremely interesting to hear so many opinions on such a mass culture typeface and also to learn how some of the font designer greats got into their professions and thoughts behind their creations.


Sunday finished an interesting book on stargazers in the time of the inquisition and Galleleo called the Apothecaries daughter a nice change from all the biographies and non fiction I have read of late however I also read the saucepan book by Bryce courtney a loose rendition of his wife's grandmothers journey across and out of Russia.

Happy birthday to mum who happens to be celebrating at earth hour this evening so might help the darkness when all the lights are switched off if we have a cake full of candles for her.




Spotted something only design geek like myself would get excited about a set of mugs coloured in the pantone colour system will have to get one maybe the pink and purple ones.

Geek Girl Dinner

I went to a dinner/networking event tonight for "Geek Girls". Well after a life of being labelled Geek, Nerd, Dork, Weird, Old Soul, Different and so on I thought this would be a forum I felt at home in. Well the truth is I didn't. I am in fact an out of date geek you could say as my love of comics, movies and books are all outlets of the past. Kinda like grunge I went out in the 90's about the same time texting, and the net came in. Now I am not trying to suggest I am cool either I think I have gravitated to normal - a strange place for a person like me to be. I learnt that a MAN is not always a man, an ATM is not always an automatic teller machine and coupling is not always in reference to sex.

So will have to work on my weirdness in future as being average was never a goal of mine.

Thanks to Noemi for organising our night out it was an eye opener and fun.

less than 30 days till I'm 30 whooppeee!

OK so as you all know any excuse for a party and celebration so I thought why not have 3(there is a bit of a 3 theme anyway). If you are in Auckland it will be on the 12th, if family will be the 16th and if in Melbourne on the 19th of April so save the dates in your diaries.

lots been happening

OK so where did I leave off - Ah the Womenz night out - yes that was great and from that I now have a great new female singing CD, I have also read a fantastic book about an amazing man (Don't postpone joy by Peter Taylor) who makes even your worst day look miniscule I mean imagine dealing with HIV, blindness, deafness and an incurable disease from a sand-fly and still being incredible happy and running a hugely successful cafe (where he is the chef) anyway can't recommend it enough oh and for any locals go along to Dorothys sister in three lamps he is such a crack up.



On the sad side my Nana has had two knocks as she had a minor stroke and has also fallen and perhaps broken her hip again but as always she is the epitome of strength and still looks great for her age (103 in May this year) - hope she is all better soon.

Did the big kiwi tradition of the round the bays fun run or more of a walk due to the massive 100,000 crowds it was great and was much easier than the last walk so must be getting fitter - then of course there is the big party after with lots of alcohol and music I think my friends and I were literally the last to leave - we managed to sneak into the best party tent the Mainfreight one which had bouncy castles and face painting.






All the happys - birthdays to Ellen and Noemi, and of course st Pats and Easter - I had great fun at work hiding 25 eggs all over for people to hunt for what I didn't count on was two very eager beavers who found most of them and then rationed them off to the others pretty funny. I can't understand why no one liked my green chocolate for st pats :)

Anyway hope you all had a lovely four days off.

Womenz night out

OK so this is a story of how a flukey hearing of an ad on bfm turned into one of the most inspirational nights I have been to in ages. I had caught this ad talking about a women's night out and being the passive feminist that I am thought it was worth checking out it only cost $40 so wasn't much to lose if it turned out to be bad. So off Leanne and I went to the beautiful Langham hotel to be greeted with wine and canapes and lots of interesting stands to look at. Then we went inside and there was the best goodie bag I have ever received with food, cosmetics, magazines, vouchers, and more. Four ladies talked and we got to see Susan Wood and Peta Matthias live. Now if your thinking free drink, a great goodie bag and inspirational speakers was enough well just wait we also got a live performance from the female duo Pearl who lets just say made me almost cry. So even though this mag/internet site was set up for women 40 and over I would highly recommend going along to the next one in June I know I will be.

www.womenz.co.nz

Wellington and the festival of the arts

Well I had the best weekend for ages. Flew down early Saturday Morning from Auckland to Wellington to visit my friend Aaron - meet his new love Bridget and see his new house by the beach and airport. They were great hosts giving me tours of the changes since my last visit in 2002 and taking me to yummy breakfasts and gelato places.

I was also down for the festival of the arts which I have to say started with a shock as at my first dance a lady plunged from the seating headfirst onto the stage and cut her head open and was rushed to hospital right in front of my feet (wasn't how I envisaged my first case of someone falling head over heels for me). However the performance went on and was amazing it was one dancer on a massive digital screen where lines and projections were created by her movements my favourite was one where shadows of her movements were recorded and then she stopped and they moved back in reverse - a very creepy effect.

The second dance I saw was Sacred Monsters which was another astounding performance even from the worst seat in the house. Two of the worlds dancing greats together don't know what to say except was incredible.

My last show was a surprise as only picked it as alternative to my dance choices and because there were still tickets and it was cheap so imagine my glee when I find out it is compositions by Philip Glass(and him performing) who is pretty up there he has one grammies oscars and so on and all to poems and drawings by Leonard Cohen another legend. So needless to say another fantastic performance.

I also got to play with two very cute cats zippy and cornelius, witness a mitre 10 dream house filming and visit my fav NZ art gallery the Dowse.

By my flight back early Monday morning I was feeling energised, inspired and relaxed.

Great week

Started with dinner at my favourite yakitori bar, saw one of the best sunsets yet off my balcony and then ended with an amazing massage hawaiian style and achieving the 11km Cathy Pacific walk/run. Here is a pic to prove it all red and exhausted. Only bummer is the massive blisters which will hopefully heal by Round the bays.

Culture 101

There is so much to do in Auckland in the summertime its great. In the last two weeks I have been to Cross street carnivale which was a craft and music hippie fest, I also went to the cultural festival partly to see my friend Noemi perform in her brazillian drumming group and partly to feed my face with lots of exotic foods and finally I went this weekend to the Chinese new year Lantern festival. I hope there is just as much to do as we head into Autumn.

Happy Valentines

Hope everyone has a lovely day - for me since I am a singledom I use it as an excuse to be like easter and eat lots of chocolate - oh and I did share some with my colleagues

PJ Harvey is amazing

Went to PJ Harvey concert last night with my sister and we were both blown away with how original her sound is and how talented she is. She played atleast 3 different guitars another stringed instrument, the harmonica, the piano, the electric drums and so on. Her outfit was great an old victorian styled wedding dress with the titles to her songs graffitied on top. Will definitely see her again if we ever get the chance.

Congrats to kiwi comedians

Love hearing about people who were not backed by the establishment but had enough faith in their own talent to keep pushing. A massive congrats to Flight of the Conchords on winning a Grammy.

from the news

Flight of the Conchords, the New Zealand comedy folk duo who have had a runaway success with their HBO show of the same name, are among the few New Zealanders to ever win a Grammy award.

Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement won best comedy album for their EP The Distant Future.

The Conchords were both avoiding the limelight today and did not attend the ceremony. They stayed in New Zealand because the writer's strike has delayed production of their second series.

The debut full-length album from Flight of the Conchords is due to be released in April on the ultra cool US record label SubPop.

New Bathroom

Well I decided it was time I got off my bum and did some work on my apartment so Sunday I went to the paint shop and got all the gear and then spent the whole day preparing and painting my bathroom. All my minimalist friends must be having an influence on me as I chose white - which would normally be my last choice but I am learning to love it and now it is a good blank canvas to stick lots of my artworks onto. Thanks to my sis who helped me.

Hollie Smith at the Zoo

Went to a concert on Saturday night at the zoo, it was Hollie Smith NZ's own soul singer - She was amazing and I have no idea how she gets such a big voice out of such a tiny body. So great to get out and see so much local talent.

Fun at the Gallery

Well Friday night was another opening at my sisters Art Gallery and I was brought in to run the bar which is always fun as alot more relaxing than my day job. Also congrats to Murray (Chanty's partner) as he has created some amazing works.

Matakana Mayhem

So for the bargain price of $60 I went up to Matakana to watch 3 of NZs best female talents perform. Anika Moa, Golden Horse and Brooke Fraser. It was a great night filled with lots of cheese, chocolate, wine and singing. We were lucky enough to stay at an amazing bach in Omaha, spending Waitangi day at cooks beach (the pic full of seaweed) and then at Matakana before heading back to Auckland.