Thursday, December 23, 2010

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Claire, Scott, and I are catching a flight up to Auckland tomorrow morning and are hoping to hit Warkworth just after lunch - providing the traffic isn't too horrendous.
Mum and Dad are looking forward to having all of us home for Christmas this year, along with 1 & 1/2 grandchildren.
It will be great.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A Surprise For Rox!

Imagine a gloomy day at work - the weather is a little chilly for Spring, you have vision problems caused by a migraine starting, and you've just had a run in with the twat down in despatch THEN something amazing happens. Think of the best thing you can think of and then times it by 1,000,000. This was my day on Tuesday.
So there I was, working hard in the office. Head down. And suddenly I saw a couple of familiar faces walk past the window. I possibly screamed, got up out of my chair, and RAN down to reception, almost bowling over Julian on the way, to greet the surprise visitors - Averil, Eru, and Eru's twin brother Karati. Oh happy days!

What a fantastic surprise. It was so surreal! The two little monkeys had planned all along to come home earlier than they had told everyone to surprise us. And what a surprise!

After being the 'surprisee' at work, I was got to become part of the 'surpriser' team at Roxburgh Street. Apes, Eds, and Kuds headed straight there after seeing me and by the time I got there Claire hadn't yet arrived home. Hmmm.... I rang her to see where she was and said I had popped in for a cup of tea. She was at the Warehouse printing off photos and would be home in half an hour. Perfect. Renee, on the other hand, was a little more difficult. I had sent her a text to see if she wanted to go for a walk after work - she's always up for a walk. She was keen and suggested we meet at our usual spot at Hagley Park... hmm problem.. I said we should meet at Roxburgh Street so we could pick up Claire and all go together. She said maybe I could pick up Claire and we both meet her at Hagley Park.. Hmmm not quite as easy as I first thought. I gave it one last attempt by saying we should just meet at Claire's. She was tired after night shift and even though she thought it was odd, said she'd be there. Phew! My work here was done.

Renee was the first to arrive and when she saw Averil and Eru she screamed, dropped her cardi, and cried. Good result.


Then, finally, Claire arrived home. She saw Karati and had to look twice before realising it wasn't Eru and proceeded to launch into a story about her dream from the previous night where Averil and Eru were home ........ and then they walked around the corner. Claire cried. Another good result.

So of course there was lots of chatter and questions and more hugs before Eru and Karati took off for a boys night of twin bonding.

Claire, Renee, Averil, and I went out to see Paula and Kazio. I had called Paula earlier to say I would pop out for a cup of tea. I was starting to love being a tricky trickster.
I walked in first, followed by Claire, Renee and lastly Averil. Paula practically threw her dinner on the table as she jumped up to hug Averil. Yet another good result. This was fun!
Alex also came home while we were there so it was good to see him.

Paula has a new kitten, Roz, who I immediately fell in love with. She is just a wee dot of fur and was plum tuckered out after a day of Christmas tree climbing, and Alex scratching. She is just gorgeous and I was VERY close to putting her in my bag and bringing her home. Even Averil, who doesn't particularly like kittens, had to admit that she was a little bit cute.



I think all of us had a permanent smile on all day on Wednesday.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Tis The Season To Eat Lollies!

First up I can't believe it's December already! That means next month is January which is the start of a brand new year (in case you couldn't work that out for yourself). I wonder what 2011 holds...
This year has whipped by. A little too fast actually, for my liking.

I was looking through a Property Press the other day (I like to keep up with house prices) and came across a house that looked very familiar. 2 Bath Street, in Hanmer Springs is up for sale for a whopping $455,000. It was listed as having been a holiday home and I wonder if the new owners will keep it that way. Otherwise we may have to look for other suitable accommodation on our stints up in Hanmer Springs.

My bestie, Kristine, from Warkworth came down to Christchurch last weekend which was fabulous. I happened to be house sitting in Halswell for the week which worked out beautifully. We had a nice balance of relaxation and doing stuff. On Friday night we met Claire, Scott, and Renee at the Dux De Lux for a yummy dinner and a couple of wines before heading to the Court Theatre for Scared Scriptless. For those who don't know, Scared Scriptless is an impromptu comedy show. There is a lot of audience participation and heckling and it was hilarious. I've been 3 times over the past few years and it is always a very good night out with lots of laughs.

On Saturday Kristine and I went out to Ruapuna Speedway to see her husband Derek who was down in Chch for the weekend with a group of friends who are all part of a racing car team. Simon Sceats (who is originally from Warkworth) drives the car and has been the winner for the past two years but this year they have a new Audi and it doesn't seem to be doing so well for them. On their race Simon's car clapped out and he left the track after the race had finished in the car on the back of a tow truck, not looking very pleased.



It was a beautiful day out there and we stayed for the following race of V8 utes as well before heading back home. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Maybe I have hidden motorhead tendencies??

On Saturday night I invited Claire, Scott, and Renee around for dinner with us. Just a simple steak and salad dinner but it was nice with good company and a few wines. After dinner I brought out the raspberry slice and chocolate mint slice biscuits (a common accompaniment when Krissy and I are together!) and with one piece of raspberry slice left we decided whoever had the best story for the nicest thing they have ever done for someone else would win said slice.

Kristine won with her story from while she was in England her train was delayed and then they had to change trains. As she was disembarking she noticed a blind man come off the same train so went over to ask if he needed help finding the next train which he graciously accepted. It turns out that he is married to a Kiwi girl and has published some books, one of which Kristine has read. Now for the really weird part. Back in little old Warkworth Kristine was in town one day and saw him accross the road - in Warkworth!! So went over and introduced herself again. Small world. Anyway, she won the raspberry slice and we all watched enviously as she enjoyed her winnings. I know I had a smile on my face but my mind was frantically scheming on how I could do something to better that for the next time such a competition arose.
Anyway, from that competition we decided to issue a challenge for the next 4 weeks to try and do one selfless act each week. I haven't achieved my first one yet so have a lot of work to do!
On Sunday we went for a walk through Hagley Park - which is so beautiful at any time of year - to the Art Gallery to see the Ron Mueck exhibition. Ron Mueck is a sculptor and his work is amazing. He makes scuptures of people which are either really big or really small but are so life like. It was well worth having a look at.


After a cup of tea at Roxburgh Street we headed to the airport for Kristine to catch her flight back to Auckland.

This week at work has been really busy but, being as competant and efficient as I am (ha ha) I have managed to handle the pressure. We had our work department dinner on Friday night so 5 of us went and played pool for a couple of hours being heading to the Belgium Beer Cafe for dinner. It was a good night out but I woke up yesterday feeling very old. Not hungover, just sore. I had walked into one of the pool tables on Friday night and hit my hip, I got knocked in the other hip on Thursday night at netball by my evil partner, and I still have a very tender foot from where some drunk punk stood on it a couple of weeks ago while I was out in town. Yes, poor old bruised and battered me.

Today is Sunday and it's a nice day outside. I have plans to ride Averil's bike (which I borrowed and have only ridden 3 times) back to Roxburgh Street. And then walk back home. It's safe to say I'm not a fan of bike riding. Maybe I'll see an old person on the way that I can help across the road as my 'pay it forward' deed for last week.