lunchless

I just wrote a post and got some weird error and it disappeared. Dumb

i am not lunchless, per se, more unable to bring myself to eat it. Go figure. And the weather is getting crappy again, after the gloriousness that was the past three days.

title? hmmm

nope, can't think of a title.

I have been at the office for 3.5 hrs now (figure that out - it's 11am) and have done approximately an hour's work. unless you count all the phone calls i've taken, that might edge it up a bit.
But figuring i have working been my little ass off for the past month, i figure i can finally have a morning of slackness.

Slackness has also been seen on the exercise front this week due to the wind deciding to make itself known again, which doesn't bode well for bike riding. And i've wanted to do things other than run with my lunch hours lately. Hopefully i'll be in the mood to go for one when i get home, or my waistline may be in big trouble.

On the exciting news front, i bought a computer! well, the boy and i did really. A shiny new imac. We went into the mac shop the other day to buy it, but after some confusion, they didn't have the one we wanted in stock. 4-6 weeks to wait for it. My ass. I got a bit stroppy. What made me more stroppy was the fact that the VERY NEXT DAY they had a full on magazine style brochure in the paper advertising the freaking thing. Talk about good business - not - if you don't have it in stock, why are you doing a mega promo of it?
So in protest i went online and bought it, and we should have it in about 2 weeks, if not sooner. woohoo! I guess maybe i should be nice and call the store to say we don't want theirs anymore...

And it's the weekend tomorrow. I have coffee with a friend, shopping and crafting of the christmas and market stall kind. happy, happy day.

ok now maybe i should do some work.

i am here, under the elephants

Tim is already in bed - and it's only 8.30. But then last night we were all tucked up at the same time - all this sunshine makes one tired. Not too much to write, but lots of photos...

Fish and chips out at Makara - the weather was just perfect - still and warm.And I made sure we took the tomoto full of sauce...

The boy got creative with a stone...aww...

My favourite thing about Makara is the light - it makes for the most detailed pictures. The way the shadows fall on the stones, how the sun drops over the hill, how everything is bathed in a warm glow - makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.lastly...a shot of my ass. after going to the vege market this morning. We went to take the shot i scoped out yesterday morning on my bike ride and...the fountain wasn't on. Typical.

I did get a bit of crafting done this weekend, but haven't taken any pics yet, not until i actually finish something - hopefully this week. :)

beautiful, beautiful day

Finally, a day where you can't but think the cliche - you can't beat Wellington on a good day. It is just amazing here today - still, sunny, hot, hardly any clouds. it is simply magnificent. I went for a bike ride this morning (still no success at sleeping in) and marvelled the whole way. I spotted some perfect photo opportunities but when i went back after dropping the boy off at work Oriental bay was chocka. The weather is meant to be just as fantastic tomorrow, so on my morning ride i shall take my camera with me.

For a little backtrack, i went to the opening of my sister's exhibition last night. She's literally just finished a diploma in visual media, and her class is having a graduating exhibition on Manners street for the next two weeks. So proud of her for sticking with it - i dropped out of design at Massey after a year when i discovered i was much better at writing than drawing, and that i preferred sewing as a hobby than as a job. Her stuff is very cool though, and i keep thinking that i wish i could set something up that supports emerging designers - a student gallery or the like. Something to mull over for a bit.

And i had to harvest more lettuce this morning, as the plants are getting a bit over excited! All the rain and sunshine of the last week has been like steroids for them. So we get to have fresh, home grown salad this weekend.
(the lettuce post-harvest)

(the tomatoes that i really should stake)

I tried to do some more sewing this afternoon in the peace and quiet, but just can't get into it. Maybe because my brain just wants to rest after yet another crazy week! I really need to get going on my Christmas presents though...only five weeks to go apparently. Argh. One little whinge - why is it that Spotlight seems to have fewer staff every single time i go there? the queues were ridiculous, and half the stuff i needed, such as a certain colour thread, had run out and they obviously hadn't had time to restock due to lack of staff. Sort it out, people! And latest lesson - fabric warehouse has cheaper calico and nylon netting.

Am off to pick up a bottle of wine and the boy - we're going out to Makara with fish and chips to hang out and take photos. It's like a replay of something we did when we first got together, and we got some amazing shots - except they were all on film and i can't find the negs. Gutted!

something to smile about

Before the big storm the other night, the boy and i played a game of scrabble - with our set that we picked up in Petone last weekend. It has wooden letters!

And i caught a rainbow. I love how it looks through the rain spattered window, but none of the photos were just right - i had it in the back of my mind while i was taking them that i could make a card out of a good photo, but never mind.

I haven't had a bike update for a while. I rode the bike home today, and it felt different somehow - i was going faster and i did't freak out that i wasn't in control like i normally do. So i decided to tackle the short cut (ie big steep hill) home instead of the long cruisy way. I struggled. I am so unfit - the last two times i did it, about 6 weeks ago, i didn't have to stop. This time, i had to stop for about a minute i was breathing so hard. But i made it, and even biked up the next hill that takes me up to our house. My throat hurt i was breathing so hard, but it felt great. I actually can't wait to do it again. A bit nuts, yes!

And it's friday tomorrow, thank goodness. Someone was meant to come and show me what to do for my extra job today but didn't have time, so here's hoping for tomorrow - i'm getting increasingly frustrated by the fact i don't really know what i'm doing, but i just want to get stuff done. I hate that it's sitting there and people are waiting on me to get back to them.

One great success i can tick off for the day - the boy delivered our card order and the recipients are well happy with it. woohoo!

thunder and lightning

Last night we had a mega storm. The kind where you lie in bed with your eyes closed and you can see the lightning through your eyelids and the thunder rolls and rumbles like it want to destroy everything in its path. It was kinda scary, though very exciting at the same time. And it went for aaaaaaaaaages. I could just imagine the cold air and the warm air fronts meeting up in the sky in their gangs and both of them going right, we’re not going to give in easy this time – let’s fight to the death. Sleeves rolled up, muscles bulging…

And I want to whinge about some things. With the sky so grey I think I’m entitled. I’m trying to find somewhere, anywhere in central Wellington that will print digital photos for less than $1 a pop. At this point I’m going to have to do a massive lunchtime mission all the way to the other end of town to get some images printed at a reasonable price. And the place I’m going to charges extra (!!) for matt and white borders. What a freaking rip off.

And what is with the women presenting the netball at the moment all wearing the same dress? They look like bridesmaids, and they don’t seem terribly impressed by it. Going by their facial expressions, they all appear to be thinking the same thing – I feel like an idiot. Put them in news presenter blazers, and they’ll all look a million times more professional.

The only other thing I can think of to whinge about right now is that no matter what I do at the moment, my house feels like a constant mess. I swear it is reproducing. I might need to resort to drastic measures, like eating dinner straight out of the pan. Hmmm.

hmm

I feel better after that. Or maybe it's just the chocolate kicking in.

full and frank

Today is not fun. However, the new frankie is out and that had made things a little better. And the fact that we have secured out first card order. But work is still crap. bleugh.

the best news ever!!

I just sat down to write this via checking my email - and discovered that we have our very first card order! I'm having a party in my seat! And the boy isn't even here to celebrate with me! Could i get anymore excited??!

breathe...breathe...breathe...right so apart from that SUPER EXCITING news i thought i'd share my day. If i could do bullet points i would.

I woke up too early as usual, after a lovely night of sleeping and dreaming about something that *wasn't* work (happy happy me). So after giving up on harrassing the boy i eventually got up and went for a nice old bike ride... i was going to go round the bays but as usual wellington couldn't decided what to do with the weather and i wasn't too keen on getting rained on. Got home and dragged the boy's ass outta bed to go to the market, which was way busier than usual but worth it as always. Except we couldn't find any decent bananas. oh well.

um and then what...had a bit of a tidy up and sat down to cut out more things for our new Christmas cards that we're going to sell at the next Aro Market and (hopefully) the Khandallah market. I'm really excited about them, they let me feed my magazine addiction and have nice relaxing time of chopping away with my scissors and not think about much.

Then while i was making lunch i decided i should stop being so freaking lazy and actually clean something (i've been on cleaning strike lately, cos i've been working so hard the last thing i want to do in the weekend is clean). So i attacked the shower with exit mould (ahh, glorious stuff - that also ruined my boy's World hoodie - actually i should get around to fixing that) and had fabulous success making it look all nice and shiny so decided i may as well clean the rest of the bathroom too. Not that it's very big but it gets super dusty and i moult like a cat so hair gets every where and it's impossible to get off.

Anywhoo, after all that i got my ironing board out and had a go at all the fabric i washed a couple of weeks ago after my major spotlight splurge. Which meant i could then make:

Christmas placements part one (for presents) and summer pj bottoms. OMG how i love the fabric of these - the photo really is a bit crap cos the light is going and has made them look all blue. When i get the chance and the light is better i'll take another one. It reminds me of when i was 8 and my mum still made my clothes - ah reminiscing. They aren't the most attaractive when on but they are basically the boy's boxer shorts pattern so that's what you get i suppose.

And yes i'm already thinking about Christmas. Usually i'll be in denial until mid-December but this year i seem to be all for it. Might have something to do with our little card enterprise - i keep telling myself we need to take some Christmas photos for cards, and i aim to make the majority of my gifts this year to save a bit of moolah and have an excuse to do lots of sewing.

But for now, i'm off to make a semi-experimental dinner and have wee dance around the lounge - yay for card orders!!

sanity withdrawal

It's Friday night and the house is quiet. Well, quiet except for the conversation i can hear the people upstairs having, which is odd cos normally they all seem to be socially incapable. Anyway.

My week has been mental. How many times have i said that lately? Fingers crossed it will start to calm down next week, despite the fact i will still be doing two jobs - only i will be starting a new second job of which the acting period is indefinite. I'm actually a bit daunted by it, as i will certainly be out of my comfort zone, but it just goes to show how much my boss knows i am capable of, and that is a fantastic feeling. Wow, that sentence was way too long.

A few bits and pieces from the past two weeks...

the Pablos art auction was fab. My declarations of no alcohol consumption were quickly forgotten with the free bubbles. woops. The boy was intent on spending my money but we walked away with nothing - gutted we missed out on fantastic works by Paul Bradley, Sam Broad and Misery. That's what happens when you're poor like us though!

My little (8 year old) bro had his annual fireworks-slash-halloween party last weekend. It consisted of many 8 and 9 year old boys running around getting overly excited (as they do) at the pyrotechnics. To the point that one yelled 'God bless America'. Apart from being freaking hilarious you've gotta wonder if they should have said 'God bless China'.

I love watching fireworks but can't stand to spend money on them - i figure i may as well light a $20 note on fire. But we watched the Wellington free fireworks display from the best spot ever - and they were mind blowing (and ear bursting). for once i thought they were better than Disneyland (or maybe i just need to go to Disneyland again). One of the boy's friends parked in a spot on Oriental Bay from 8am just so that his brother could park his work truck in its place later in the day. The boy was home late from work and when we got there, the two of them were sitting in this truck, with the curtain pulled aside, kitted out with sofas, radio and bbq. So we sat in cosy comfort, ate sausages and bread and got many an odd look (and attention from the police), some guy even took our photo. I think it was more hilarious for us watching peoples' reactions than for them looking at us. Haha i even had my knitting out for awhile while the light was good which was a great tool to convince the boys in blue that there was no alcohol on board. i mean, if something as wholesome as knitting is being done aboard, surely we won't be breaking any laws??

And as i said, the show was spectacular.

last night i got home lateish (dinner time) from work drinks (there's that no alcohol thing forgotten again) to find the boy had dinner all ready for me...it was the best thing. Even cooler though was the cat that snuck into the flat and wandered around for about half an hour. The boy was so stoked, and spent quite a lot of time down on the floor.

and now i'm going to relax and finally finish reading Love in the Time of Cholera. mmmmmm bliss.

sleep, glorious sleep

I can't believe it's already 6pm on Sunday. Where has my weekend gone?


Friday night i was so exhausted i went to bed at 8, and when the boy got home around midnight and he said hello i could barely lift my head. The most frustrating thing was that i woke up at 6.10 am on saturday morning and couldn't get back to sleep again...so i eventually gave up, started sewing and organised everything for the market so the boy got to stay in bed til 9.


I'm super glad we did make it to the market - it is enforced relaxation time. I can sit and chat to people and hand sew and don't have all those niggly household jobs hanging over my head. It was a pretty quiet day yesterday but we still did ok. The best part of the day though was when a strange man quickly and quietly handed me a wad of papers - application forms for three local markets. woohoo! So in the coming months we will (hopefully) also be doing: the khandallah fair (9 Dec); the Newtown Fair (2 March); the Kilbirnie festival (6 April) aaaand all going well the two martinborough fairs in february and march next year. actually that would mean two fairs in two days but we'll have to plan well for that one.


Anyway i'll be glad of the excuse to make more ipod covers - when i was up at 7.30 yesterday sewing i remembered how much i love making them - they are actually relaxing, and i love putting together different fabrics and thinking of new embroidery designs to put on them. They haven't done terribly well at the aro market thus far but i don't think it's quite the right audience for them anyway.

And i just half-succesfully made us pho for dinner. (i think it's vietnamese soup). It worked really well considering i improvised on a few ingredients - but that is the story of my life.

Enough boring writing, here are some random photos.


I realised there wasn't a single pic of me on here. totally anonymous no more! Me and a very hairy boy on the way back from a trip to the mountain. Oh, for some snow!
And i didn't get to have any of my lovely toast this weekend due to lack of peanut butter in the house. Dumb. Maybe next weekend.
Not terribly exciting photos but i promise to work harder on that front. Here's to another mad week...