Welcome, welcome 2009.

Normally i'm one of the people saying 'oh, new year's, it's so overrated'. This year i wasn't expecting terribly much.

Today, the first day of the year, i got out of bed three times and went back to bed twice.

Eventually i had a shower and decided to wear my pjs all day.

I ate breakfast at 2.30pm.

Last night i was surrounded by old friends, some new ones, and had the absolute time of my life. We talked, we danced, we drank.

Hence the difficulty with getting out of bed and eating on the first day of the year.

Thanks to all those who have been reading over the past year. You're all wonderful, and I hope the New Year brings you plenty of fun, and lots of crafting goodness.

So welcome, welcome 2009: i'm ready for ya.

What, another post? In one day?! Goodness me.

Having spent the majority of today either cleaning or browsing the net, i figured i may as well drop by here too.

So, fetching are finished. The Alpaca silk is so delicious and completely worth it. Please ignore the lack of a cable cast-on. This knitter is too lazy to teach herself how to do it. Now to put them in the post to wing their way to Paris. Today it was meant to be a whole 1 degree outside. Think she may need them.

And i've added a million gazillion new blogs to my google blog reader. The theme seems to be: London. There is also the wee discovery that is the awesomeness of podcasts (yes, yes so late on that wagon), particularly those of Radio New Zealand.

Most of the blogs have also been added cos they're pretty. Post-US election a colleague and I discussed if it was inappropriate to have crushes on President-elect Obama. Damn, too bad i hadn't even been born in 1980.

Hmm, not sure that I really need to remember yet another log in and password, but i'm seriously thinking about joining this site. 

I'm not sure i'm ready for tomorrow to be the last day of the year. Perhaps if i do the whole 'what do i want to achieve in 09' thing i'll feel better about it. maybe.

The only reason i'm writing this is because i'm procrastinating from cleaning. Bleugh, cleaning. And it's too hot. 

The hedgehog that has moved into my parents' backyard. We fed him salmon for dinner. mmm salmon

How about some gratuitous photos of animals and flowers to liven things up? Taken with my pretty new cybershot that FITS IN MY HANDBAG! can you tell that excites me? I am still in love with the Canon S2IS, but it's such a pain to carry around all the time. And it's a bit embarrassing that even though it's only about 3 years old, it has fewer megapixels than the Cybershot (5 compared to 7.2). Plus it's little enough to fit one of the many many large iPod covers still lying around, so it looks even prettier.

Thinking about London (only two months to go!) has got me thinking about cameras. As in, which ones to take. 

The Cybershot will go in my bag, but will it be too much to take the S2IS too? And then there's the Polaroid which i don't want to let go but hardly ever use, and i'd really like to take my Dad's 1984 Canon SLR (no D in that, it's all 35mm film) for its second OE. 

Four cameras really would be a bit overkill, and no doubt when i get there and earn squillions (haha) i'll want to pick up some serious camera fun in the way of a Canon EOS once i've figured out how to keep from being mugged while i walk around with it.

To finish: an interesting post on a blog i don't usually read. I think all her points are completely valid - and then the comments remind why on some sites i don't bother reading all that toxic hot air. When i was employed by a certain someone comments used to make me angry and upset, and then i read an article somewhere (can't remember) that had a whole pile of stats about blog readers  and commenters. Instead of going into loads of detail, basically it made me feel better. And taught me to just ignore the nasty ones. Obviously on all the lovely crafty blogs around, rarely is anyone nasty.

ah. Christmas Eve. And it's raining. What a freaking surprise.

What with my brain needing some stimulus due to the no work thing, i finally went to a place that sold the Listener on a Monday and bought it. Usually i don't see it til Sunday when there really is not much point.

But what a cracker this week's is!

The editorial is fantastic. It opens: 'Since when has genuine happiness been dependant on money?' I like it. My year, as previously mentioned, has been full of challenges. Lots of them were not so good, and seem to overshadow all the fantastic challenges. But at the end of it, I am happy. Maybe next post can be about all the good things from this year. hmm, could be a long one.

Then there was yesterday's Dom Post article in the World section about young women in Asia (if i remember right) not being allowed to go to school in favour of their brothers. Goodness, that makes me sad. Typically, i can't find it on the Dom Post website. What does that say? It was almost a whole page article, and yet it isn't important enough to make it to their site. Boo.

Oh, also in the Listener is a fascinating piece about Jane Austen. I came across this
a few days ago and meant to link to it through here, but the lovely Louise beat me to it.

While watching trashy Christmas tv i'm working my way through fetching in the wonderful, wonderful, lush alpaca silk i bought from South Seas Knitting. Though i think i should get in the habit of actually counting - i'm onto glove number two and am struggling to get the number of rows between cables the same. woops.

Right, so that was a whole lot of randomness. Merry Christmas everyone, i'll try and keep up with the very regular posting in the New Year - but can't guarantee i'll be sober enough until oh, about January 3.

Tash xx

how awesome is this?

thanks to this lovely blog.

I have had a wonderful day.

Christmas really is more about the memories and the company one keeps than the presents, isn't it?

I am having a very distracted day. 

But, i also have crafting excitement!

The wonderful Sue who organises Craft2.0 asked me a few weeks ago if i would like to host a craft, coffee and cupcakes workshop at the New Dowse at the end of January. 

Of course i said yes!

So, to see what we'll be making, go here and to book, go here.

And now, instead of attending any one of the four functions i have been kindly invited to tonight, i'm going to sit at home, knit and watch DVDs.

Obviously, the TAWAs were fun. 

Now i have to spend an entire day cleaning the house, thinking about Christmas, and stressing about the fact it is now not even a week away. Where on earth has December gone?

So to procrastinate from thinking about said Christmas, it's photo time.

There has been a noticable increase in graffiti of all kinds around Wellington over the past few months, including some very clever 'paste-ups'. Being a lady of leisure means that I have the, er, leisure, to walk round town, find and photograph the work of some mysterious peeps.

And now for a little bit of Christmas:

must.maintain.one.blog.per.day

slightly drunken. 

Had wonderful night at TAWAs (otherwise known as the Wellingtonista Awards), wearing ridiculous silk skirt that once upon a time was my 6th form ball dress. 

just for fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN8HwUxFouM

lady of leisureness

I just realised I won't be near a computer again for the rest of the day, so had to do my daily post now. When pretty much all i've done since the last one is knit and sew. but mainly sleep.

what i want to know - who stole summer? where has it gone?

For those who think a lady of leisure does nothing more than sleep in, mooch around, and then go to bed again, today's schedule looks like this:

up at 7.30am (ugh yuck)

pack stuff to go from coffee to gym to drinks (read: bag lady for the day)

start some knitting so i have something to show for myself at coffee

8.55am - blog

9am - leave house

10am - coffee (to teach a guy how to knit. never met the guy. feels like a really weird blind date. more on that later)

post coffee - mooch round town and maybe do some much needed christmas browsing, which will probably lead to purchasing of presents for self

12.15pm - spin class

2pm - drinks

4pm - train to Khandallah for further drinks and christmas festivities

ohh ok. it's a tough life.

too many ideas for a title

let me try and grab just a few thoughts dashing around my head...

Nikki: i am absolutely up for some man picking.

As she recently blogged -how do you blog abut relationships? The boy has now been officially not the boy for about 4 months. After 3 years, i surprised even myself at how well i've dealt with it. hmm, the strangeness of life.

I've just returned home to a dinner of burritos from the Maiden addresses of a friend and some other new MPs. My goodness, it was inspiring. I have recently turned from the 'i'm not a feminist but...' mantra to the 'this is what a frigging feminist looks like' club. It is so fantastic to see so many vibrant, intelligent women sitting on the government benches. And finally, finally, there are MPs whom i feel i can personally relate to. I can look at the left line-up and say, yes, i feel they absolutely represent me. Too bad they're in opposition.

Speaking of yesterday's need for an ego-boost, apparently i'm interesting. I'll let you know how it goes after tomorrow. In the meantime - yes, Sue i'm about to go and do some work for you. Another wee project yet to be unveiled. It seems so many things are happening so very quickly and i'm trying to catch my breath. It is all thanks to wonderful people such as Sue - you are awesome my dear. mwahs!

on the bus, on the way home from spinning, i realised what it was that i was missing.

a good old fashioned ego-boost.

I've now been unemployed for just over 4 weeks. The lack of mental stimulus is driving me round the bend, so i'm reading Michael King's Penguin History of NZ. As i'm not so fussed with flora and fauna and such, i began from the political bits. it's fascinating! Makes me want to go back to 5th form history classes.

But that doesn't quite hit the spot. Couldn't figure out why. Until the bus trip. The major thing missing when not working is any sense of achievement. I don't feel like i'm working towards anything, more meandering aimlessly with my eye on some vague blur in the distance. I haven't overcome any major challenge, i haven't had any serious deadlines, there hasn't been any opportunity to give myself a quiet pat on the back for a job well done even if noone else noticed. 

With sewing and knitting i'm so self-critical i never feel completely satisfied with a project once it's done. 

So, not quite sure how to fix this one. I figure recognising it is the first step.

and now, for a little music (i never said the daily posts would be substantial):

right, so apparently that isn't working today. So i'll just link instead. As i make afghans, do washing, tidy the flat and ponder walking down to Lyall Bay in this glorious, glorious sunshine.

oh and tip of the day - Lindauer is on special at Pak'N Save for only $7.88 a bottle! yuss! I might've bought 4.

an epic post. oh yeah.

(the 'love, me' bit is there because for some reason i was thinking about Meredith's speech to Derek about how he should pick her over Addison when  i was embroidering ...)


right, so clearly this life of leisure has not resulted in an increase in blog posts. So i shall do the WHOLE two past weeks of my life via bullet-pointing:

• i turned 25. i rather like the number, and hope it will be better than 24 
• i fell UP the stairs at my party and got an awesome bruise on my knee
• one of my old friends who had just got back from the UK came to my party (yay!)
• i sat in the sunshine
• i started going to spinning classes (as in biking). they're amazing.
• i completed an entire game of indoor netball without feeling remotely puffed, just hot.
• i sewed
• i burned my finger on a bowl i was taking out of the microwave. Said bowl says 'microwave safe' on its bottom. my ass
• i went out and got fabulously drunk with the awesome people from the Wellingtonista. They are cool.
• i sold the car (yuss! more life of leisureness for me)
• i had the best cupcake ever from Tempt at Smith the Grocer
• i missed out on the last of the cheap one way tickets to london so am stuck here til march still. i was hoping to change it to beginning of feb. oh well
• i got addicted to Parliament TV. like a crack whore, only with politics
• i was in a car accident. i banged my head, got a bruise on my arm, climbed out of my dad's car and people stood around looking at me to make it all better. for once, just for once, i wanted not to be the person who takes control of a situation. but i did, and turning around to see the brother of a good friend right next me when i needed someone, and giving him a giant hug, somehow got me through the waiting for police bit. There are several parts i distinctly remember - like staring at this other person heading straight for me and knowing that there was no way of avoiding IT from happening. For legal reasons i probably shouldn't say more. i'm a safe driver is probably the best way of putting it.

And now i'm thinking i could either get all morose and grumpy about how crap the past year has been (like i have been the past couple of days) or i could make frigging lemonade. I pick lemonade. 

This coming week sees me having coffees, going to spinning, sewing, knitting, tidying, and starting to think about Christmas. I haven't begun my Christmas shopping, and i'm thinking i might just not. In my old age i'm getting a bit anti-materialistic and so i'm going to attempt to make all my presents. 

In order to not feel so slack on the web front, i'm going to try and post everyday til Christmas. oooer, now there's a challenge...

Promises

One of my best friends in living the good life in gay Paris. Well, she's au pairing and struggling on the language front a little, and missing home. So when i asked if she'd like a wee knitted present, she immediately requested grey mittens. 

righty-o.

i can't seem to find any nice, slim fitting mitten patterns. I don't like how most are quite bulky. ick. 

So i'm going for fingerless gloves, considering by the time they get to her, it'll probably be spring.

Wandering round knit world lately hasn't been particularly inspiring, and then i remembered South Seas Knitting. 

oh dear.

Seeing as i'm on a budget, i'm thinking this pattern in this yarn with these needles. i think i'm drooling on the keyboard. yummmmmmmmmm

On another front, it is list writing day. On that list is going to be 'stop drinking so much'. Not really hungover today but i can tell my body is unhappy with all the liver abuse that has been going on. So post-birthday (next week!), the aim is to drink as little as possible. and seriously this time. 

Liar, liar, pants on fire

I just lied. LIED people. it's eating me up. It doesn't feel at all good.

Scenario:

1 pregnant flatmate. 1 very unpregnant leaseholder flatmate. 2 other flatmates. Only leaseholder flatmate, apparently, knows how to clean, and has been doing so for the past week, to compensate for distinct lack of cleaning activity over past 4 months.

1 pregnant flatmate sends text to newly unemployed leaseholder flatmate (me) at the unholy hour of 7.30am this morning. To say:

um, want to talk to you as i've put my name down for a flat in case baby comes early. I've put your name down as referee. (what??!). Said i can move in a month, but would like to talk to you about it.

ok...have a minor stress and then to think happy problem-resolving thoughts.

I shall talk to my landlord and see if we can get out of the lease 5 weeks early (hopefully they will be understanding, and it will save me some rent).

Right, ok, can deal with that.

I spend the day pleasantly, watching Grey's Anatomy, knitting, walking to Lyall Bay for coffee and then sewing.

Phone rings.

Hello?

Hi this blah blah from blah blah property management. [Pregnant flatmate] said i could call you as she's put her name down for a flat.

mhhmmm.

so, what is she like as a tenant?

oh, she's ok. I don't have any problems with her. (semi-true. she's a nice person most of the time)

So how would you say she is on the clean and tidy front?

oh, she's fine. i don't have any problems with her (She has left hair dye all over the bathroom which has stained the new lino, and i have seen her wipe a bench. once. i just threw out two bags of mouldy mouldy bread so green you couldn't tell it was bread any longer)

And um, how about paying rent?

oh, she's fine, i've never had any problems with her (again! missed her very first rent payment when she moved in, and completely forgot to do it again last week)

is that all?

yep. she's fine.

hmm. i thought blogging about it would make me feel better. Apparently not. I am, though, much too nice for my own good. 

sigh.

Grey's Anatomy therapy - part 2.0

Yesterday I left my office for the last time. I didn't really want to leave. I kinda liked my job. I really liked the people I worked with, and the endlessly dynamic environment.

As i got in my car to go, the cathedral bells tolled. How appropriate.

I had coffee at the Dowse, and wandered round the 17th Annual Wallace Art Award exhibition. I love the Wallace exhibition. I wrote notes - which will become the next blog post.

At my parents', i sat on the couch and put on season one of Grey's Anatomy. Ahhh, bliss. Having already covered off season two and three a couple of months ago, it's quite nice to watch episodes where Meredith and McDreamy's relationship is still entertaining. Mmmm McDreamy. I could do with one of those.

Complete, unadulterated pop culture. It makes me laugh, it makes me cry, it frustrates me and makes me think. Best of all, it makes me feel better.

Tash hearts Wellington

A picture says how many words?

Toast Martinborough - i said 'this is the life' for the first time in a long, long time. bliss.

I'd like to teach the world to sing

I was going to comment on Nikki's latest post, but then came up with too much to say.

My two cents is (are?) this:

I was brought up in a Roman Catholic home and all my schooling bar two years at intermediate was at Catholic integrated schools. I can't remember the last time i went to mass, but walking into a church, no matter the denomination, it always seems like a great weight is lifted off my shoulders. 

I can remember when i first realised that some people had no concept of the 'treat others as you would like to be treated' idea. While i have absolutely no claim on being saintly, this is one of my most fundamental rules of how i go about my daily business. It regularly surprises that people aren't quite sure how to take it. There have been people who have taken advantage of my generous nature, and times when i wonder why i bother. 

What it comes down to is that while i don't go to church, and haven't picked up a bible in a very long time, the values i was brought up with are a central part of who i am.  They aren't all unique to the Catholic faith, but in the argument of nature vs nurture, in this one nurture wins.

Something that really bothers me is all the conflicts caused by religion. War in the name of values and beliefs is in my mind completely contradictory. I would never force what i believe on anyone else, and resent those who try and force theirs on me.

So the simple answer to Nikki's question, i think, is yes. I know people from all backgrounds and beliefs and have no problem with it. Conversations around religion can be fascinating so long as the participants are prepared to look at the argument from all angles. 

I have a friend who is a one-eyed National Party supporter. We had one conversation (read: argument) this year about politics and she refused to consider or even attempt to understand  the left point of view. So I refused to argue with her, and we now have a rule to not talk politics. 

What i'm trying to get at is that we need to be prepared to accept that people have differing opinions and perspectives. Religion, politics, it's all the same really. I have great respect for my Nat voting friend and actually think she'd make an amazing politician. We look at the world completely differently and yet we get on like a house on fire. 

Not sure if that makes any sense whatsoever. It seems kind of simplistic and idealistic in the end - let's all just like each other even if we don't believe the same things.  Just like Coke would like to.

the view

from my window. . .I shall miss it.

i'm baaaack and revealing some little secrets.

Whew. That was mad. Still is, in an end-of-school, it's almost Christmas, don't have a job  much longer sort of way.

Secret number one: I worked in the office of the guy who won in this electorate in the weekend.

ok so that's my only secret really. and lots of people knew it already. It meant lots of very long days, weekends, and actually quite a lot of drinking to keep me sane (is that a contradiction or what?). 

But it was a total blast. Working in the office has been amazing - I have met some incredible people, been to some pretty cool places (even if they were only in the Hutt) and have a new appreciation of our society. 

I even got to hang out with the now former PM a couple of times. And get her coffee. Oh the exciting life I lead.

But now my boss heads into opposition and I have plans of my own. 

I am free to head off into the big wide world and take advantage of the perks of my Dutch passport. So my plan moving forward is to do a whole pile of work on this project, be a starving artist for a few months until my lease expires, and then jump on a plane to London.

It also means i have much more time for blogging. 

So tonight, Matthew, I have some random bullet points:

• I don't drink coffee. I now have a two-a-day habit. My little walk across the road to Green Land below the Ministry for the Environment building is a little ray of sunshine. They are awesome. Try their afghans.
• I am going to run every day now i have the time. I am slightly more round post-campaign and none too happy about it
• I love voting.
• I love sleeping.
• I finally got my socialising groove back. I know some pretty damn cool people, and am so lucky to get to hang out with them.
• I'm sad to be back at my flat and no longer have the daily company of my family (hi mum!), who fed me and gave me a bed to sleep in for the last two weeks, and then put up with grumpy me on sunday morning.
• I love taking photos and am determined to carry my camera everywhere with me from now on.
• I think a nation is measured by the way it treats its most vulnerable. And i'm concerned the new government won't treat them so well. But good luck to them. I'll be back in 2.5 years to help win the next campaign.

i love...

as it's one of those nice cruisy saturdays, i'm dropping by with a list:

things i love:

• fabric
• pattern
• colour
• graffiti
• freesias
• black and white photography
• fluro pink nail polish
• knee high socks
• daydreaming
• borrowing cds from the library 
• my friends
• watching endless episodes of Grey's Anatomy
• the new World Sweet World mag
• and right now...being me.

Hiatus

I have a little song, it goes like this:

My time is not my own

My time, no it's not my own

no my time isn't my own

oh my time, is not my owwwwwnnnn

I knew it was coming, and the past three days have proved that it is finally upon me. So i'm going to suck it up, and embrace with both arms. 

For the next three months or so i'm incredibly unlikely to find much time for myself. And even if i do, i doubt i'll want to be anywhere near a computer. Hopefully time at home will be spent going for runs, taking baths, reading and knitting or sewing. I came home from work very cranky and so went straight back out the door and went for a run. I feel so much better for it. Sitting hunched in front of a screen doesn't make me feel so good. 

I'll post when i finish thermal (this weekend, all going to plan).

And i'll still loiter, i'm not going to go so far as stopping myself from reading blogs...there just won't be so much action here.

But for now, i'm going to indulge myself in Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami. I've been wanting to read a book of his, any book, for ages. And i am seriously impressed. It's fantastic so far.

Whanau and shindigs

l-r me! Dad, my sis Ana(dress made by moi), mum, my lil bro Jonny, and not so little little bro Toby. Noticable in his absence, my big bro David - who is on a plane to Japan. Jealous!

Now for something completely different...family!

My sister's 21st was a whole load of fun. I thought her being 21 would make me feel old, but the complete opposite seemed to happen. The idea of a big milestone party got me super excited, and i had a chance to properly dress up for once. 

When i was 7th form (or year 13, or whatever) my lil sis was a turd. I got lumped with peer support duties and had a great class of third formers to make buddies with, and buddy up we did. They were awesome kids, though quite often i was disturbed by what dirty little minds they had.

About half way through the year my sister came and told me about how one of her mates had cracked up at the fact that i was friends with them before they got to be friends with my sister. 

And she has some great friends, and they kind of all end up becoming mates of mine by default. My point is that hanging out with them makes me feel young, not old and crusty like i actually am... :)

giddy excitement

I have:

• a mini bottle of fluro pink nail polish (finally!)
• black wool suiting
• silver shot metallic fabric
• black shot metallic fabric
• a pattern from burdastyle (free!)
• Black Seeds
• a 21st (my sister's, ohhh i feel...young!)
• a giddy excitement about designing and sewing one of my creations...so very excited!

The 21st is tomorrow night. Yes, I am mad. I inherited it from my mother - all three balls i went to at school, she or i would still be sewing while people arrived for the pre-ball. It was stressy, but so much fun.

I had some time out today to do a bit of shopping for something to wear, but couldn't find anything i liked that was under, oh, $300. and that picture in my mind didn't appear on the racks anywhere. So i've dreamed something up instead. Fingers crossed it works. I need to channel some sewer's patience to be sure it comes out just right.

Pictures tomorrow :)

oh a not so exciting note, the anticipated work madness is creeping up on me...so i am resigned to the fact i will end up at my desk on sunday. But now, to sew!

Dreams

For some time now a wee dream has been evolving in my head. This weekend it's nearly fully formed, in radiant colour, and I can mentally walk around it...

It's not that much, really. It involves:

• A sewing room that is bathed in sunlight
  
• A vegetable patch
• Chickens

Which is all kind of bizarre really cos i grew up loathing everything to do with dirt. Now i find weeding oddly therapeutic. I have no idea what it is about chickens. They're awesome. I don't think i need any other reason except to think they're cool.

Yesterday a visit to Chocolate Frog resulted in some plant buying (kale) and seed purchases...i'm going to germinate them and re-start my pot-based vege garden of last summer. 

I hate the idea of putting chemicals on something i'm going to eat, so i'm doing research on companion planting. This site is great. I've also heard that a certain method of planting during certain phases of the moon makes for crazy growing activity, so might have a wee go at that too. 

Yesterday wasn't just spent daydreaming. I managed to do some more sewing. I managed to tame my overlocker long enough to make half a skirt but it's now packed it in again. ugh. I also had a go at buttonholes on thermal, and i didn't win. I tried a cable bind on and it didn't work for me ... though i'll be the first to admit i kind of tried making it up as i went along and then lost patience. Any tips? Or just forget the buttonholes and fake it?

oh, for snow!

I'm going snowboarding tomorrow! I get to play in 4.5m of snow, and 1m of it is almost brand new! sooooo very excited...and so very grateful to my boss for letting me go. 

I also went out for a run with a guy i work with today. We keep hassling each other about if we've been for one, and i meant to go yesterday but got distracted with the triathlon.

I almost died. Well, not really. But he runs way faster than i do and totally pushed me to keep up the whole time, and told me not to stop. It was hard, but at the end of it i felt awesome. Compared to my usual cruisy run, it was a bit of a shock to the system. 

It was over 6 hours ago, and i'm still feeling amazing for it. like i could go leap buildings in a single bound. Combined with the excitement of going snowboarding, i'm more than a bit giddy. 

I did do some sewing on the weekend - i've almost finished the wasp bag, though i'm already planning some pattern amendments. I realised how much i love sewing again, i so don't do enough of it these days...

life is good

My msn horoscope for today says something about feeling like a beetle flipped onto its back with its legs flailing in the air, unable to get flipped over again. It tells me to wait for the breeze to turn me right side up, and to enjoy the humour of my situation in the meantime.

The sun is shining. I have a new haircut. I ate a tim tam and two pieces of toast for breakfast. I have one new flatmate moving in today. I feel light and relaxed and in control...and i'm about to spend the day sewing. woohoo! I've been waiting so long for a sewing day.

And i ventured into global fabrics yesterday. Did you know they're having a sale? 50% off!! crazy!! i'd post pics of what i bought but i'm having battery issues again. Hopefully by the end of the day i'll have some finished products to photograph.  but first, i have to get out of my pjs and wash the car.

I've made a decision about what i'm going to do next year. I'm excited. 

There is over three metres of snow on mt ruapehu - it's calling me. i've got ants in my pants waiting to get up there again.

oh and did anyone else watch the rowing last night? my whole family was jumping up and down the whole time, it was fantastic! Didn't manage to stay up late enough to watch the rugby or the shotput, but damn, NZ you're awesome!

Olympics and stuff

Right, so still stressing seriously about the flat situation. A great pair of pommy girls came round last night and they were awesome...both working at the hospital, really super lovely.

But they had another place to look at too, and i really really want them to move in. At the current rate of room interest, i will seriously struggle to find others to fill the rooms. 

I haven't heard from them yet. I text them after they left saying how i'd love for them to move in if they'd like the rooms....now whenever my phone beeps it makes me sweat and gives me butterflies because i'm worried it will be from them saying thanks, but no thanks. 

This flat has been no end of trouble. horrible flatmates, not being able to find flatmates, giant powerbills...when will it end? when will my penance be done? I'm not even sure what i've done wrong...it just saps all my energy and i can't seem to make it better no matter how hard i try. If i hadn't given my strongest assurance to the landlords when i signed the lease that i would certainly stay out the whole 12 months, i would give up. I have no idea where i'd go, but i would. But i can't go back on my word. 

and i don't want to get my hopes up for the pair of poms, because i don't want it to be even harder if they say no.

On the other hand i've been throwing myself into Olympics watching. I love it. I love watching everything, i find it so fascinating. The bodies of the athletes amaze me...and i can't help but be utterly attracted to Michael Phelps...his swimming muscles make me melt, just a little. Too bad he's american. Hey now that i think of it, he's only a year or so younger than me. Maybe i have a chance...haha

Apologies

I found Tessuti here. They have Japanese cotton fabrics. and gorgeous silks. And deliver anywhere in NZ. Damn i need to find new flatmates to i can treat myself...

I just scrubbed the bath. It kind of helped.

Expletives to follow

I am ready to have a big fuck off tanty. Evidently with lots of swearing.

I am so done with flatmates. I am so sick of being the leaseholder and therefore responsible for paying rent if someone leaves. I am so sick of people taking advantage. I am sick of fussy people who have no idea. I am sick of the stupid women who work in my office and talk shit all day and have the productivity levels of sloths. 

Have i mentioned that i asked horrible flatmate to move out? Yay for that! he's gone! And i thought i'd found a lovely lovely new crafty relaxed flatmate. She moved in, put her cute stuff around the house, and then decided to move out because the room gave her asthma. She said it was damp. She has a ventilation duct right into her room, it isn't mouldy, it gets the sun - all things that are hard to find in wellington. 

You'd think she would have considered the fact that all her stuff had been in storage for months and would be all nice and dusty. I think the real story is she found somewhere else. And now she wants her bond back straight away, when i've just paid out someone else's, am already paying rent for two rooms and now have to find someone else to go into that room. Talk about fucked off. And of course i'm too nice to say no, she has to wait until i get paid or get someone else in the room.

I am tired, I know have to clean the flat for people to come round tomorrow night, and i am seriously not in the mood to play nice Tash and hope that someone else wants to move in.

Besides that, i now have two highly irritating women working in my office instead of just one. I have to listen to them talk crap all day (one has an extremely high opinion of herself) and am painfully aware that they aren't remotely productive and aren't actually doing the job very well. It makes it so hard to concentrate and get my own work done, especially when i'm already tired and stressed by other things. 

It's all bad enough that I just want to call my mum and have her make everything better. 

Work. Is. mad. I. Am. tired. 

mulled wine, hot fire and dinner to decide upon.

still not sleeping well. boo. 

but snowboarding sunday. Yay. 

that is all. 

Epiphanies and feeling uber zen

I had a crappy weekend. I felt crappy. Not sick, just really super tired. And then I couldn't sleep at night. boo hoo. 

I knew something was wrong when late saturday afternoon I thought, 'I can't wait to go back to work and do this and this and this'. Uh oh. 

Not having slept very well I got a bit cranky and then took it out on the boy on Sunday. He left, I felt bad, and then had some very good thinking time. 

How long has it taken me to realise that men and women are different. Take me (female) for example. I went to an all girls secondary school and had a group of friends that were super competitive and super smart (i was the average one). We were always pushing ourselves and each other to do that much better. Five years of that and i was a lost cause - i'm a hard out. I figure there is no point doing something unless you are going to do it properly and efficiently. I drive myself nuts with it all the time, especially when i'm sitting at work thinking i could have done something much better, much sooner, when really i doubt that anyone else has even noticed. 

The problem with this is that because i have such incredibly high standards of myself, i tend to expect the same of everyone else. Which is unfair. And the person it is most unfair on, is the boy. 

The boy is a youngest child. Something that to me is glaringly obvious every day. He's a total cruiser, anything that can be put off til tomorrow will be, and quite often he doesn't think of how what he does will affect anyone else. Because i suppose, when he was growing up, he got away with everything and noone really worried about him. His parents had probably figured that all the others turned out ok, surely he will too with much less effort.  

He makes up for that with grand gestures - i always get the most amazing presents and surprises from him.  Whereas i make lots of little gestures constantly. 

So the big deal was this: now that we don't live together, i want to hang out with him all the time because i adore being round him. He, on the other hand, just carries on with life as always and knows i'm there if he needs me. Which makes me cranky. 

Until yesterday.

1. He probably doesn't want to hang with me cos i get cranky all the time (duh.)

2. I need to chill out, relax and just let him be him (also, duh)

3. Stop being such a relationship control freak. It's still a relationship even if I don't see him for five days. (yep, that would be duh)

And i feel so much better. I'll be the first to admit it's going to be hard to change some very old habits. But I also need to spend more time looking after myself. Part of that is not sweating the small stuff, and really, it is pretty small stuff. I don't really need the extra stress of being grumpy at the boy because he isn't living my super high standards.

The other reason i'm feeling uber zen right now is that i just got back from playing indoor netball and i feel freaking amazing. Endorphins, anyone? I sleep way better when i've had some exercise in a day, so i think i might start getting up earlier in the morning and going for a run before work. Or after work. Even if it's raining. Because it makes me feel so much better, and boy i'm going to need to be on top of the game for the coming months. 

soonness

no, it's not a word. But soon-ness is how i'm feeling tonight. Everything is 'soon' at the moment. Waiting, with baited breath, when some things are going to happen. I'm going to have to be prepared, but i'm excited. Work is going to take off and go nuts, but i can't wait. I've had a few days of super good work stuff going on and i'm getting my mojo back. Goodness knows i need it.

and i'm hanging out to get a snapper card. So few people have them yet i'm all super jealous whenever i see someone actually USE those cool teardrop shaped things on the bus (which also make a great noise). Pay day next week may call for the purchase of one. 

i'm also quite looking forward to the weekend - a bit of cooking dinners to freeze for the next few weeks, some baking and hopefully finishing thermal - so close to being done i can almost smell it!

oh yeah

that's right, I was going to post.

Holiday was mostly fabuloso. Not so fabuloso the whole being ditched thing so that boys could ride with boys. Tash is not a boy and so gets left at the top of the chairlift to entertain herself for the day.

Snowboarding is a very male-dominated sport. Whenever we head up the mountain, the boy and i always end up meeting more...boys. We'll hang out at the lodge, meet new people (boys) inevitably give lifts up the mountain to the boys, hang out with the boys, i'll get ditched so the boys can go be boys together and then every so often I will drive extra boys home. 

Trend, much?

At the time i smile graciously and put up with it. By the end of the weekend, or week, or whatever, i am gritting my teeth as the boy comes along and says, i'm just going to go do this with the boys...and i'm ready to have a mega tanty. 

Despite all that, the boys we met this time were pretty cool. A french guy (who we called frenchy cos it was easier than saying his name) and a welly boy. Tim and I ended up being surrogate tour guides to frenchy on the closed days, and then brought both him and the welly boy back down with us and then showed frenchy the sights of wellington before depositing him at the ferry terminal. On saturday. I hate to think how crap that sailing was. 

Though he was obviously blown away by the amount we did for him, it didn't bother me. It felt completely natural to show a total stranger round the countryside for a week. He cooked us dinner. It consisted of garlic, onions, potatoes, bacon and cheese. freaking brilliant. freaking french.

Spending that much time with frenchy made me realise just how much of my french i've forgotten. Words that i knew were buried in the dark recesses of my mind refused to come out of the cave. So i'm thinking i'm going to find a way to re-teach myself some vocab. just for fun.

I barely spoke any french to him though. He had come over to speak english, so that's what i let him do. I helped with the odd translation of words, but that's about it.  

I was going to post a photo of the most wonderful purple and yellow bruise i now have on my knee because i tried to keep up with the boys and got too tired. (i also have a couple on my behind but we won't go there) The bruise signalled the need to give up for the day. But i walked away from it knowing i'd got a whole lot better. And might just be able to ride with the boys next time. 

PS we wisely decided on tuesday not to stay for the weekend, and drove back on friday night. So we missed out on all the fun of being evacuated off Mt Ruapehu on Saturday. bummer. 

raining, it's pouring...

fingers crossed i don't get stuck in the hutt at Craft2.0 cos of all this rain...and toes crossed too that this all means snow, lots of snow!

Early tomorrow morning the boy and i are road trippin' to Mt Ruapehu for a week...catch you up when i get back!

Happy: i went for a run! And i got flowers! from the boy! and i got to hang with the boy! 

Created: hmmm, clean clothes. and endorphins, and as always, stitches.

Treat: burger fuel. more than covers the effort in the run, methinks

No Grump: decided to change the outlook to 'positive' when dealing with flatmates re: giant power bill. we'll see how it goes. The bit that drives me nuts is that no matter how nicely i ask, it's still their decision to be more power conscious. So the bill is in their hands...

I am in two minds about what to do with fave flatmate leaving. I'm not sure i can really be bothered finding a new one, to be honest. I go up the mountain for a whole week on sunday and she leaves as soon as i get back, which isn't really helpful in the time frame situation. So maybe i'll sit on it for a while and make up my mind when i get back. though it will mean paying quite a bit of extra rent. 

I'm at the point where my whole life feels a bit consumed by flat stress. So the focus is going to shift to craft: much, much more craft. I think it's time for the hottie, bed and my knitting. Thermal is on standby, which is a bummer as i hoped it would be finished by the time we went back up the mountain. Instead I seem to be replacing it with lots of little knitted projects...all will be revealed, one day...

blogging. um stuff

oh. ah right. blogging. that thing i do. normally when sober. 

let me explain. i'm normally a nice relatively undrunk lass. of late, my colleagues have led me astray. which is why i am sitting in the dark eating fish and chips at 9.32pm on a tuesday night. when any reasonable person would be getting ready for bed, soberly, and anticipating the next day. nope not me. led astray. 

so err, happy - we won netball last night. Can't remember the rest. though the boy feigned serious illness yesterday and guilted me into cooking him dinner after netball. only to be revealed that he had been drinking til 4am monday morning. where is my dinner? hm?!

and it seems that when i am drinking, i talk. alot. (i knew that) the worrying thing is, it seems to all be about knitting. oh dear.

I am now apparently knitting a fluffy red beanie and a scarf or beanie (which ever strikes my fancy) for two office males. hmm.

now i feel slightly ill from greasy chips and much gin and tonic. and vodka. oops. fun times, though...

Happy: Wandering around the waterfront for hours in the sunshine. Knitting in public. People-watching. Taking photos

Created: soon, pumpkin soup, and plenty of stitches, as always

Treat: G&Ts with the boy at Ohtel

No grump: nothing. really...except maybe that it's monday tomorrow...but i'm not thinking about it :)

The concrete poetry around the waterfront really pulls at me...each one resonates for some reason, the words, the textures, the true descriptions of what wellington is...and you really, truly can't beat wellington on a good day.

happy happy joy joy

um yep, it's late. so this covers two days...

Happy: not having anywhere to go or anything to do last night, so hung around drinking with work peeps. got hideously drunk and decided it would be a great idea to go to the boy's house, climb into his bed and fall asleep all without him knowing. He was in his room, bummer, but put up with me all the same...and then cooked me bacon and eggs for breakfast. Much happiness also from snuggling under a blankie on the couch knitting, then met up with Nikki for coffee and more knitting. Couldn't get better really. 

Created: Plenty of stitches

Treat: Relaxing! Properly for once...

No grump: ummmm oh  could have got seriously grumpy about the price of petrol. Solved that by deciding that my low car use can get even lower. I drive it on Mondays to indoor netball, and around about on the weekend, and that's pretty much it. What i'd like to work out is the cost comparison of driving to town on the weekends to catching the bus, which is $4 all up. hmmm.

Happy-ness

Happy: a loverly evening hanging out with my boy, some super duper exciting news (all hush hush) and seeing THE most fantastic print in the window of Eyeball Kicks on my way home. it is mine. I am almost beyond caring what it costs...shall see if i feel the same tomorrow when i call them and find out the real price...

Created: stitches, soon

for someone else: bought the boy dinner, and treated him to my fabulous company, ha. Oh actually, i treated him a dollar to play pacman on/in the table at Midnight Espresso

Treat: a G&T for moi

No grump: am struggling with this - the power bill arrived, it's an estimate, i checked the meter, and yep, next month is going to be mega again. This month is still pretty bad. It's the last thing i need to stress about, again. But my dad is an engineer (read: anal) and has always been involved in the electricity sector, which means transferred anality about things like turning off lights. So this power issue is like cheese grating my face. painful. hmm maybe i should email the landlord and ask if the previous tenants had the same issue - we have a moisture master and i theorise it shouldn't be that expensive to run - should it?? (the website says no - only 5 - 10cents a day - not sure i believe them)

also exciting - tomorrow is FRIDAY! woohoo! Bring on the weekend, baby!

Happy day number 2

1. What has made me happy: Eating spag bol for dinner, my carefully planned day going swimmingly (v tiring tho. whew.), and looking forward to knitting this evening with a hot water bottle and then an early night. 
2. Created: so far nothing, except a good dinner. Soon i shall have created some stitches. yay.
3. Done for someone else: ummm...a tad stuck on that one. oh yep, it's in my head - i went out of my way for someone. Was at work so can't be too specific...
4. treat: a decent dinner, and making myself walk out of the office at a reasonable time when i could quite easily have stayed much longer. it will still be there tomorrow.
5. No grump: one of the flatties left their bedroom light on, so i very nicely asked them to turn it off, and then explained, again very nicely, that i was a little concerned about what our next powerbill will look like. He then raved about how nice and toasty warm his room his and that he hasn't needed a heater so far at all. ahhh that makes me feel better. Still curious about the cause of last month's mega bill tho...

for some incredibly irritating reason, photos are taking what seems like hours to upload...so no prettiness today...off to knit!

happiness part 1.0

1. What has made me happy today: I am feeling the effects of three glasses of wine, hoki bites and apple berry pie with low fat icecream for dinner. 
2. What I have created today: a full and well rounded day for my boss tomorrow, oh and a great mix cd for this evening's work drinks
3. One thing i have done for someone else today: i sent a love...pdf. mail wasn't fast enough!
4. One thing i have done to treat myself today: i ate pudding for dinner - which i kind of guessed i would do so treated myself to a kebab with green things in it to make up for the fact i haven't been eating very well lately. One actually cannot operate very well on marmite toast alone (even if it is vogels)
5. One thing i stopped myself from getting grumpy about: tomorrow wasn't working out so well, so i walked away, came back to it and found a solution. yahoo!

I am also very very excited about: TV3 filming stitch and bitch tomorrow. i also now have a free-ish evening...shall i risk venturing out? or shall i stick with relative anonymity for awhile longer? Anyone who is crafty-like should definitely go - it's at Cafe Reka at the NewDowse in the Hutt from 6 (i think).

One of my exciting projects is on the go...ohhh i could stay up all night working on it, for sure!

I am also very pleased that a flatmate appears to have had the sense to turn on the dishwasher. Big star for them. Not so big star for the flatmate who has a penchant for filling the freezer with food before using what they already have in there. Going to my happy place. 

right slightly drunk fuelled happy rant over for today. Hello to my lovely friends who all seem to be going to freaking Paris without me ... even it is only on Conitki.