Rob Ryan

So on a little trip to London(2005) with my friend Regan we happened to chance upon an amazing window display in Liberty and ever since I have followed the work of Rob Ryan as he is just so amazing with a knife and paper. This cover he just did for Elle magazine is brilliant.

500 days of Summer

Watched 3 amazing movies and 2 semi crap ones in the last 3 days.

I will start with the crap - Punisher and Year One. Enough said.

But then there was the good stuff, "let the right one in" a Swedish vampire flick which was so achingly beautiful and totally different to any other bloodsucking movie I have seen before. Then there was boy in the striped pjamas - tissues recommended. What a way to put the equality of man in war in perspective and the beauty of children's innocence.

Lastly and best of all - touting it as my fav indie of the year (I am that confident I won't see one I like better before new years) 500 days of summer had all the ingredients of a perfect flick for me. Boy meets girl, offbeat enough not to be formulaic, absolutely cracker sound track which I have since purchased and finally takes you through the gamut of emotions from happy, giggly, sad, ecstatic, and so on. Go and see it all you gals out there. Not afraid to admit I am forming a bit of a woman crush on Zoey Deschanel too.

Oh and yay for spring all the lambs, pink blossoms and sunshine is making me very happy.

other pics of going ons

Clip and Climb
Steve and Mikes House warming(Trashing)
Leanne and Matts engagament party
Food show

Before and after

So my friend Del requested some more pics and less text so here is a before and after pic of an incredibly elaborate plait up do she did for me during my Melbourne trip.

Strategy, Training and Fashion

What a week it has been. Caught up on my geeky knowledge at Web meetup - so love watching the passion exerted by super brains who look decidedly like Mr Bean, HTML 5 seems pretty exciting. Then I spent Friday hidden away in a boardroom doing strategy with the Marker management team - on the upside had a stunning view of Auckland harbour and very scrumptious food at Euro (sorry healthy eating plan).

Saturday with hangover in tow, spent an hour getting my nails done at the spa oh how hard my life is(I did then help my mum and dad cleanup so not all roses :P).

Sunday went for a mammoth 10km walk 20,000 steps according to my trusty pedometer up and around Rangitoto such a great place for a day trip. Leanne and I even broke out into songs to make the never ending dusty road truck along faster, helped that there was no one in sight.

Monday more strategy and Tuesday more training but bonus got to go to the opening runway show at the 2009 NZ Fashion week as Cybele was first this year and what a collection just when I had sworn to hold back on the fashion spend she goes and makes clothes to die for.

Apologies

So yes I have been slack on keeping my diary and rantings up to date but for good reason I have been living life to the fullest so have not had the time. Below is a catchup on the highlights but there have been alot more dinners, parties and craziness in between. Will do my best to get back to once a week from now on.

Highlights

May
Nana Smith turns 104
I participate in a protest to help get a bike path over the bridge

June
Lost my first 5 kilos
Went for an amazing holiday to Melbourne
Had fun trying out new exercises like vibra train
Fell in love with the books from Twilight series

July
Lost next 5 kilos
Found a new exercise love Aquasize (could be the hillarious instructor)
Film Festival
Little sis introduced me to new obsession footspas (my local only $25 soooo cheap)

August
lost another 5 kilos so total now of 16 kilos
My bike was stolen - my bike was returned (freaky)
Started running
Learnt to make pasta from scratch by hot italian stallion Luka
Food show mmmmmm
Attended the super inspiring Semi permanent design seminars
Said goodbye to our building manager Kylie
SPCA cupcake day
Discovered the pain that is bikram yoga

September
Attended two engagement parties one dressed as Frida Kahlo
Saw a moving play called Wolf's Lair
Made a new friend from UK land Angela

Movies catchup

Rating from 1 = What a waste of time and money to 10 = I am a changed person for having seen that

My life in ruins 6/10
Balibo 9/10
This way of life 9/10
Departures 7/10
Chuck Close 9/10
Che 8/10
Seraphine 8/10
Coco Chanel 8/10
Red Cliff 5/10
The September Issue 5/10
Samson & Delilah 7/10
Inglorious Basterds 5/10
GI Joe 1/10
Harry Potter 5/10
The hangover 7/10
The Proposal 7/10
Bottleshock 5/10
Angels and Demons 5/10
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 3/10
Star Trek 7/10

Dai Henwood is Shabba

So have been to two comedians as part of the current comedy festival one from England the other from Wellington and I have to say in this instance local was better.

Dai was absolutely fantastic from his dance moves in glow in the dark fluros to his impressions of tip toeing into his girlfriends bed at night were side ripping hillarious. I am now a big fan.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Henwood

Warning avoid Fishpond.co.nz

OK so let me start by saying I thought I would change from using the tried and trusted Amazon online bookstore to a local one which claims it is NZ's largest bookstore so that I was being more local and better for the environment/economy and all that. However I have now had two books go missing in two separate orders. Their claim of 24 hour shipping is very false as sure it might leave them the next day but how and where it goes is a mystery.

I know they are located in South Auckland and the latest book I purchased they have 96 copies in stock. Now that means it only had to travel from south to central a 30min drive at worst. Our postal system is pretty good and even snail post usually makes it in 3 working days however they have charged 5.99 for it which would suggest it is either tracked or fast post so you would assume it would be next day. Well in my case it still has not arrived and it is 10 working days from date of order and when I asked for an explanation or a refund they told me to ring my postal person and chase it - something I thought was crap considering I was not the sender and they weren't providing a tracking code.

Now this is the second time I have been through this and as they have proven no cheaper than normal retail, less efficient than amazon many miles away and with some of the worst customer service around I would warn anyone to stay away from using them unless you are happy to wait a month for your book. If you are not afraid to try et me know as I keep getting vouchers as apologies.

Wellington

Finally made it down to the capitol to meet my friends new babies so met Aarons very cute blonde, blue eyed Thomas and Hayleys Chocolate hair and eyed Phoebe both were alot of fun to cuddle and play with. Also went on a tour of the lord of the rings sites and weta/jackson museum with mum for mothers day which was so interesting and really amazing to see some of the swords ands props in real life they were amazingly detailed and beautiful. Had planned to go see the Impressionist Exhibition but was not at all keen to wait in a queue for 2 and a half hours just to get in. Booked myself into a lovely hotel for the night overlooking Oriental Bay and it was great as it turned out to be bigger than my apartment and with much flasher TVs, Views and so on. Always nice to feel spoiled from time to time.

Oh and read the first book Twilight in the 4 book series and couldn't put it down, can't wait to get my teeth stuck into the next book.

Quick update

In the last couple of weeks as winter starts to take hold I have been trying to get out and enjoy the sunshine when it is there. I have also started my battle to stave off the flu and cold season by upping my supplements, getting the flu injection and washing my hands like a crazy lady.

Worked like crazy on a 40pp catalogue for my sisters gallery and amazingly got it done from start to printed finished in 4 days so was stoked it came out all right and on time for the Auckland Art Fair. Bumped into one of my old Whirlwind clients Sutton Galleries there so that was nice to catch up and also found a few new artists I liked and worth checking out.

Jonathan Campbell
Linde Ivimey
Mark Braunias
Liam Barr
Rosemary Laing
Raafat Ishak
Andre Hemer

Then went to the final REAL duathalon to support my friends Leanne and Kylie who both made it across the finish line.

Then saw an inspirational film about two of NZs most loved entertainers the Topp Twins which was a laughing/crying affair.

Finally had our first team event for the year with work where we went out west to a freezing cold location to shoot clay targets I decided to not shoot as to be honest not a big fan of guns and the harm they have done the world so having fun with them seems almost wrong. Then we had a divine dinner at Prego one of Ponsonbys most popular restaurants.

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.