Decisions Decisions

After doing the course last week and having always wanted so many things in life I realise that if I'm going to get anywhere or do any of things I want to do, I need to start making some decisions. Make a choice, make a plan and go for it. And now I have to make a decision for the next bit of my life. My thirties are coming up and I am getting excited at that being the jumping off point for the next stage of my life. Stay tuned.  .  .  .

"Cheaper by the Dozen" & "Cheaper by the Dozen 2"

Yep, I own the "Cheaper By The Dozen" two movie set. Hahahaa, hilarious. JP was soooo excited when he learnt that. We decided to get these out of the way at the same time by watching them back to back on one miserable Sunday afternoon.

"Cheaper By The Dozen" stars Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt s the parents of 12 children from aged 22 to 4yrs. They live in a country town until Dad gets his dream job and Mum's book is published. All of a sudden the kids find themselves moving to the city and with parents that are focusing on their careers. Like the tribe they are they band together to cause havoc and try and fit in in their new world. They make meat soaked underwear to ward off the older sister's boyfriend - classic! Eventually Mum and Dad realise that their family is their most important job and bring the family back together.

This movie stars some big names - Steve Martin, Bonnie Hunt, Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, Piper Perabo and Ashton Kutcher as the boyfriend. It also stars some names that you might not have known at the time, but you might do now. The young twins are Brent & Shane Kinsman who go on to star as the twins in Desperate Housewives. Allyson Stoner is the tomboy Sarah who goes on to star in lots of Disney shows including the 'Camp Rock' movies that are popular with tweens right now. Kevin G Schmidt is Henry and goes on to star in hundreds of TV shows and movies. He also grows out of his baby fat to become a rather handsome young man (still to young for me!).

This movie is fun. There is nothing challenging about this movie. You can just sit and watch a movie that is for the whole family. This movie does make me want a big family but I'm not entirely sure that I want 12 children. That just seems like an awful lot of children.

Should you watch it? Sure, if you're looking for a no brainer. Or if you like Steve Martin comedies. It's sweet and fun, but it won't change your life. And then, you have like (of if you have too like JP did) you can watch the sequel.

"Cheaper By The Dozen 2" was made two years after the original and stars all the same cast. Perhaps they signed on for a two movie deal, I'm not sure. But it does seem like a big feat to get all the cast back again when it's such a big cast.

In this sequel the family go to the Lake for a family vacation - possibly the last one now that the oldest daughter is married and pregnant, the second oldest is wanting to start his own business and the third has just finished school and moving to New York. Up at the lake they start to have a lot of fun with the neighbouring family who happens to be Dad's number one lake nemisis. The rivalry comes to a head at the labour day family competition - Bakers vs Murtaughs. But they come together when Nora goes in to labour and they must find their way out of the wilderness and to the hospital.

The difference between this movie and the first one is that they aren't fighting against each other. There is much more family unity this time around.

While all the original cast (minus Ashton Kutcher) are back, we also have some new faces as well - Eugene Levy, Carmen Electra, Jamie King and a young Taylor Lautner star as some of the rival family. All cast work well together and seem to complement each other well.

There's not really too much that I can say about this one I don't think. Just like the first one I think that this movie is a fun, no-brainer for the family. It's sweet and a great show of family togetherness. It also has that message that life moves on but no matter what family is family. I think that's a good message to have. But the reality is that it's still just a fun family movie.

Watch it if you want too - I like it, but don't expect any magical greatness from it. It is what it is.

Next? "Chicago"! Wahoo - the first musical. Then two chicken movies - "Chicken Little" and "Chicken Run".

"Catch Me If You Can" & "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

"Catch Me If You Can" is a fun and fast paced movie based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. Set in the early 1960's, Frank (played by Leonardo di Caprio) is a smart teenager who runs away from home when his parents seperate. In order to survive he learns how to make fake cheques that banks will cash, which leads to inpersonations of airline pilots and doctors and so on. Before his 19th birthday he has conned over 2 million dollars. Hunting him down is Carl Handratty (played by the fabulous Tom Hanks) an FBI agent in the cheque fraud department.

Directed by Steven Speilberg you know it's going to be a good movie! He doesn't disappoint with this one.

Tom Hanks is one of my very favourite actors and I think Leonardo di Caprio is pretty impressive too. Lots of woman tend to like Leonardo for his babyface good looks, but personally I think he's a great actor and that's much more important than looks. Both men are so good a character acting - you really believe they are their characters. They have a great chemistry on screen and really carry the whole movie well together.

They are supported by a great supporting cast and cameo appearances consisting of Christopher Walkin, Martin Sheen, James Brolin, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner and Ellen Pompeo. They are all well known names in their own right but manage to do a great job and making the stars shine.

This movie is quick, fun and well paced. There is slow paced story build up as well as fast chasing scenes. It's structured in a way that makes you really want Frank to get away with it all, but you also really want Carl to catch him. You definetly become torn between which side you're on.

"Catch Me If You Can" doesn't get old. It's not a movie that you see new things in each time you see it, but you don't get tired of it either. It's always interesting and entertaining no matter how often you watch it. It's a good one to watch when you're looking for a little action and a little bit of eye candy too :)

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was next. A remake of the classic Roald Dahl children's book that was made into a movie in 1971 - "Willy Wonka and the Chocoalte Factor" which JP owns and we'll watch later on in the project. This Tim Burton version was made in 2005 and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

Tim Burton is known for his quirky and often dark movies, so straight away you know this version of Charlie is going to have an 'edgy' quality to it.

For those of you that don't know the story - how could you not?! Here we go. Willy Wonka runs the most popular chocolate factory in the world, but he is a recluse. One day he sends out five golden tickets inside chocolate bars. The five children the find the tickets will be invited to the factory for a tour and recieve a special prize at the end. Charlie Bucket lives in a tiny, rundown house just down the road from the factory, with his Mum, Dad and both sets of Grandparents. Four of the five tickets are found by children around the world and Charlie manages to find the last one. Grandpa Joe accompanies Charlie to the factory for the tour. Willy Wonka turns out to be rather eccentric and runs his factory in a very odd fashion with the help of Oompa Loompas. Each child finds himself giving in to temptation and sampling products despite Willy Wonkas insistenance that they don't. Only Charile resists and he is all set to recieve the great prize the ticket promised.

This version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has kept relatively true to the original story. There are some scenes that are done a lot differently than those in the 1971 version and are a lot closer to the book than the first movie. The biggest one is the scene where Veruca Salt wants a squirel and gets thrown down the nut shute. This is in the book as opposed to the 1971 version which has Veruca Salt wanting a golden egg laid by giant geese. This version has added a Willy Wonka and his father story line which includes flashbacks. This storyline is not in the book and I didn't think it was really necessary, although I could see why they did it.

The Oompa Loompas are portrayed by one actor - Deep Roy. What an amazing job he must have had. He would have had to preform the same scenes and songs over and over again, but in slightly different positions each time. I admire the work that would have gone in to doing this role and that they went with a completely different idea for the Oompa Loompas, rather than trying to copy what was done in the 1971 version.

Freddie Highmore is great as Charlie Bucket. He's a really great little actor and I think he'll have a great acting career ahead of him. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has a supporting cast of Christopher Lee, Missi Pyle, Helena Bonham Carter, David Kelly and AnnaSophia Robb.

Now, I like this version - Johnny Depp is very good at quirky and creepy Willy Wonka role. However, so many people, JP included, seem to prefer the original version. There are aspects of both versions that I prefer over the other. I think it's worth watching both - they both add so much to the orginal story. Speaking of which, when did you last read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"?! I was a kid, so I plan on re-reading it some time soon. If for no other reason than to recall my youth and to find out how much of the movies they really do relate to the book.

Next? "Cheaper By The Dozen" and "Cheaper By The Dozen 2". Yep, you betcha, JP's looking forward to these two. heheheehehhe.

Home again home again jiggity jig

I'm home! It seems like I was away for weeks, not days. The course was great - much better than what I had anticipated. I do think you have to be in the right frame of mind to do it, and if you're not then it would have been pointless. However this must have been just the right time for me. I've been invited three times before and it's never felt right until this time.

We had a great group of people on the course and amazing leaders. Amanda Fleming was the presenter and she had a brilliant way of engaging you, laughing with you and making you WANT to get involved.

When you ask people what this course was about they can't really explain it and now I understand why. It's very much about your own personal development, but more than that it's about helping you know yourself better. I learnt a lot about myself through listening to others stories and from telling my own.

Each evening we went out for dinner. The first night 6 of the 12 of us went for Thai food and the second night 10 of us went to a lovely local restrauant and sat out under the chandelier in the back yard. It was so nice to be out to dinner with a group of woman that I hadn't met two days ago. Woman from all over the country, all different ages and as it turns out all from amazing lifes.

I've come home again with some new things to consider adn what i hope is going to help me to figure out what I want in life and how to get it.

3 days away

Tonight I'm surposed to be packing for a three day trip to the Hawkes Bay. I'm going up for a course. A course that they've been trying to get me to go on for the last few years but something's always gotten in the way. Anyway, it would seem it's fourth time lucky as I've just organised the taxi for the morning and now have to go pack my bag.

The course itself doesn't interest me to much, I'm just really looking forward to getting out of the office for three whole days!

I will miss my Wii Fit tho. I've made a really good start, having done it every day for the last week - that's a pretty big achievement for me! Three days out shouldn't matter to much in the grand scheme of things, but I wish I was able to keep the momento going. I'll have to be extra vigiliant about getting back into it when I get home. Already I've noticed that I'm more awake in the mornings, have more energy and feel much better about myself. Hopefully the longer that I do it the better I'll be.

I'll be back on Friday night and have a full weekend ahead. JP's brother is coming down for four days, we're going out on Saturday afternoon/evening. Then on Sunday we are going Bridesmaid Dress fabric shopping.

Perhaps by Monday I'll be looking forward to getting back to work?! Somehow, right now I really don't think so. I'm tired of the bollocks and the not-so-subtle power plays going on. I'm also a little bored - well a lot bored really. There isn't much work on and no where for me to go within the role under the current support. I guess I'll just grin and bare it until after the wedding in Feb, and then make a move from there.

"Cars" & "Casablanca"

"Cars" is another Pixar movie and another personal favourite. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I love Pixar movies! They are so much more than cartoons. There is something in every Pixar movie for everyone. This is the 2006 offering from Pixar. They've come a long way since "Toy Story" in 1998 and they do so much more between then and 2010's offering of "Toy Story 3".

"Cars" is about a rookie racing car that comes third equal in the Piston Cup finally. While on his way to the finale destination he gets seperated from his truck and ends up in Radiator Springs, a small town off route 66, scared and ripping up the town roads. Rather than getting on his way he is sentenced to fix the road before he can leave.

Every character in the movies is a vehicle. A car, a truck, a van, a fire engine, a helicopter etc. Even the little 'bugs' flying around are VW bugs. It seems so silly and yet it all makes sense while watching it. If they had even a single person the whole premise would be ridiculous, but there isn't so it seems plausible somehow. The great thing about "Cars" is that it was a fresh idea. I hadn't seen a movie done where everyone and everything was a car. The trailors made me wonder if it was really going to work, if perhaps Pixar had gone to far of the wack-o-meter with this one. But somehow they managed to pull it off.

"Cars" stars several great actors for the voices - Owen Wilson voices Lighting McQueen. Bonnie Hunt, Paul Newman, Michael Keaton also voice characters, along with John Ratzenberger who has voiced a character in every Pixar movie made so far.

There is a gentle love story playing in the background of the main story. The main character learns that life isn't always about winning, but about where you fit in the world. The underlining themes are good ones for children to be exposed too.

I'm not sure what else to say about this one, other than you should watch it. It's just lots of fun, light, interesting and very entertaining. It's totally kid friendly and adult entertaining as well. Watch it. You'll love it. I do.


Next up was "Casablanca". This is one of JP's and the last one of his before entering a 7-Heather-DVD run.

I've always wanted to see "Casablanca" but never gotten a chance to do so. It's the romantic movie that everyone talks about. And by everyone I mean those that make movies and tv shows. It's always tauted as one of THEE romantic movies ever. The name Casablanca is always associated with romance. Can you think of 'Casablanca' without thinking 'romance'?

"Casablanca" is a classic black-and-white movie set during the second world war in Casablanca, Morroco. Humphrey Bogart's character is an American running a popular bar and restrauant in the town that is the exit point for people trying to flea the continent to get to Europe and America. Ingrid Bergman plays the ex-lover of Humphery's who happens to walk into the bar with her husband. They can't leave straight away and they realise that they are still in love. What do they do now? Will they get out of Casablanca together? Or at all?

Watching this I couldn't help but wonder what the colour of the set was like. To me Morroco is a vibrant, colourful place. I can only imagine what it was like during the war and what it would have been like while making the movie. I don't know if the black-and-white was something I liked or something I didn't. It did at least add this romantic quality to the movie. I also noticed that whenever Ingrid Bergman was shot alone they shot her with soft lens so that the she looked more beautiful and sweet. Only it was rather obvious I thought.

The storyline was easy to follow, although I did get confused with who was the bad guy and who wasn't and why they couldn't get out of Morroco. Oh well.

I'm also not sure why this is tauted as the most romantic movie of all time, or one of them at least. It's a good movie and yes it's romantic, but I'm just not sure about the cult status that it has. It did spawn one of Humphrey's famous lines "Here's looking at you kid". It was pretty cool to see it just for that to be honest.

You should watch it. I think everyone should be able to say that they've seen "Casablanca". It's a cult classic and if for no other reason than it's a classic you should do it. Of course you might be a little lighter and a little more romantic than me and really love it for it's sweet side.

We've watched "Catch Me If You Can" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", but it's late and I don't want to rush those reviews. So I promise to do them tomorrow night or early next week once I get home from my three days away for work. Next up for watching for us is "Cheaper by the Dozen" and (you can bet JP's excited about this) "Cheaper by the Dozen 2". Then we have the first official musical (another one JP's not looking forward too) "Chicago". The last 2 in the 7-Heather-DVD run are two chickens - "Chicken Little" and "Chicken Run". I love the C's.

Late night airport pick ups

Last night I went to the airport to pick up Mum. She'd been to Australia for a five day get away to catch up with an old friend and I had dropped her off and agreed to pick her up again.

She arrived in at 11.30pm and came straight from Sydney to Wellington. Those of you that know Wellington International Airport will know that not many international flights come in to Wellington and it's therefore pretty small. In fact it's probably about the same size as any domestic gate in the rest of the airport.

I love to do the airport pick ups because I'm always reminded of the movie 'Love Actually'. At the beginning of the movie they show all these pictures of people coming through the gates at airports and the people there greeting them. They talk about how everyone is so happy and excited to see the people they are meeting. You can sense the love. I always loved this bit of the movie because not only is it true but I thought that even before the movie said it.

Last night as I waited for Mum to emerge I watched all the sleepy looking people waiting for their friends and family to emerge. Given the time of night there was a lot of single people and lots of shuttle service men waiting around.

I watched as a family of 5 emerged and the children raced into Grandad and Grandma's arms. The smiles absolutely huge, and the kids were pretty chuffed too.

I watched a group of three young adults holding up a sign saying "Welcome back Baldwins" and then a young couple emerge in giggles and laughter. Honeymooners returning home perhaps?

There was the Mum and Daughter who greeted a young woman and her baby. The baby got all the love and attention and the young woman looked pleased to have some help and attention.
There were lots of gentle hugs and kisses from couples and families in what looked like a not so prolonged absense. Probably much like me coming to pick up my Mum after a short trip.

No matter what tho, everyone that had someone to greet or meet them hugged and/or kissed hello, with a beaming smile. It was so comforting and nice to see such happiness in people.

No matter what else is going on in the world around us or in our lives, if you go to the airport and sit in the arrivals area you'll see this happening - domestic or international it doesn't matter. Try is some time. Oh and watch "Love Actually" - even if you just watch the beginning bit and the end bit where they are at the airport and you'll see what I'm talking about.

And this is why if you ever ask me to pick you up from the airport I'll say yes.

Cleaning cleaning products

You know how you always using cleaning products and cleaning 'utensils' to do your cleaning? Well, today I cleaned the cleaning products.

Our laundry is full of hundreds of cleaning products, buckets, mops etc etc etc. And yet, we always seem to be buying more cleaning things. I pulled everything off the shelves and out of all the nocks and craneys that cleaning products seem to find themselves in this house. It turns out we have several bottles of almost every time of cleaning product, plus 2 mops, 2 buckets, 2 brooms and one large vacuum cleaner.

Everything is now placed with it's like minded products. Hopefully we'll now be able to finish off bottles of product before buying anthing else. Although, even though we have 4 bottles of bam and 3 cans of pledge we have no toilet cleaner.

I also vacuumed the laundry, cleaned out under he kitchen sink and washed and cleaned out the rubbish bins.

There's nothing like having clean rubbish bins. hahaha.

Titahi Bay Beach

This morning JP and I took advantage of the sunshine and went for a walk along Titahi Bay beach. I took my camera along so that I could play with the macro lens and the rock pools. JP came along as my trusty assistant and to give his sore back some exercise. It wasn't cold at all and the water even looked rather inviting. Next time I think I'll take my togs just in case.

I took 363 photos in total, so I won't show them all. I used the macro lens for most of the walk but did switch to my 200m zoom for the walk back. I must remember that the bigger picture is often just as interesting as the small picture.

The tractor is used to tow the boats into the water. I like the composition of the red tractor, blue boat sheds and green hill. I also really liked the old "Titahi Bay" sign on the shed too.

The rocks are really beautiful when you look at them artistically.

When you look closely there is a lot of splashes of colour at the beach.

This was the most interesting thing we found in a actual rock pool. Unfortunetly there were no little crabs or fishes, but there was this skeleton leaf.

The obligatory shell shot.

This beautiful purple flower was growing right beside the beach. If it was a completely still day I might have been able to get it a little clearer. As it is I think it's one of my new faveourite macro shots.

The sand banks remind me of family holidays at Waikanae beach where we would walk along and push the sand into the river. I must go back for a visit and get some more great shots.

He plunges into the sea with the boat in tow. . .

 . . . and proceeds to get himself stuck.

Where do you leave YOUR tractor?!

Perhaps its the throne for the King of the Beach.

I really like this one. JP was standing up on top of the concrete barrier singing "I'm the King of the castle and you're a dirty rascal" while I take photos of him. I love the angle, the brilliance and vastness of the sky and the contemplation on his face.

Then he walks along the ledge and it made for a interesting series of photos.

No trip to the beach would be complete without spotting a seagull or two and we found a whole flock bathing in the stream.

Lee's Blog

Check out my Sisters blog here http://paintingcollaboration.blogspot.com/
She is in her last year of a Visual Arts degree and her blog is about her final few months of study.

Exercise

Soooo. . . exercise has never been something I'm good at or that I gravitate too. But I need to do some form of exercise that's for sure. I can alter my diet but if I don't exercise then the diet's not going to do much help now is it?!

Once I joined a gym and really enjoyed it, until I was stalked by one of the trainers (but that's a story for another post). It was the treadmill that I enjoyed the most. Since getting rid of my membership I haven't really done too much of anything. I always plan on going for a walk but never get round to it. Same with swimming.

I decided to get some sort of exercise machine that I could use at home. I had decided to get a treadmill until I heard that Wii's were on sale at The Warehouse. Everyone I've spoken to about the Wii Fit programme has said that it's great and lots of fun at the same time as excercise. So I got a Wii. . .

I've never owned any type of gaming console before, so I had no idea what I was doing. JP set it all up for me (yay for male flatmates/best friends) and I just had to hit GO. And, it's so much fun!

I'm great at bowling, baseball and boxing. But kinda sucky at the tennis and golf. I also bought the Wii Fit Plus programme that comes with a balance board. It has yoga, training exercies, aerobics and balance exercises. It records my weight and balance, gives me the 'ideals' and I can set a goal for myself that it will encourage me to meet.

The activities are great. There's hula hooping, step classes, jogging, balancing on an iceberg and more and more and more. It's so much fun that you forget you're exercising.

The console adds up all the minutes that you are doing actual exercise and celebrates when you get to 30 minutes. At 35 minutes it even tells you it's time for a break.

And best of all, I can add my two cats to join me in Wii land. Super cute!!

As long as I keep up with a daily routine of enjoying this new toy I should do well. If not, then I'm sure the little Wii programme will tell me all about it.

A Poem

At work we have a Programme Tutor Suzy that loves to write poems. Here's her latest about our team:

Our only male PT Matt

Was feeling rather flat

Till he met his girlfriend Kelly

Now he's got lots on his plate

He stays up really late

Playing games with funny names on the telly

Our lovely CSA called Heather

Was feeling a little under the weather

So off to town she scoots

At number one shoes

She banishes the blues

And buys a pair of lovely purple boots

Linda is our other CSA

In to work so early she comes to play

She cleans out cupboards and microwaves

And often has a clue

To questions about what's due

And enjoyrs helping people stay out of their graves

In East there's a PT called Amber

Who through the bush does clamber

On a wet Friday morning last week

She flew the flag

So that no one would lag

And was heard to let out a shriek

Another PT at East is our Nicky

Whose fingers never were sticky

She ran her first course BabyCHAT

It was so much fun

That this honeybun

Wondered where it was at

Here's to our wonderful Anna

Does she play the pianner?

Or is it the flute, the drum or recorder?

No matter, she tells great jokes

To old, young, girls and blokes

And I think she might be a hoarder

Now here is a PT named Heidi

Whose desk was always so tidy

She takes music at K'lah

With her hair so long

In music and song

And with PORSE she will go far!!

Tanya is our coach

She is no cockroach

In Fiji for her hols recently

She went for a tan

With her wonderful man

And returned in weeks numbering three

And now our new PT Kristen

To this gal we all need to listen

She's been here for three years

With answers a plenty

She's not much past 20

And can quell anyone's fears

Our other PC is called Teena

She has lunches that never looked meaner

From fried rice to risotto

Her son wee Koby is cool

He recently started at school

Can't wait to see Santa in his grotto

And here's our pop up coach Emma

She had a real dilemma

When she fell and broke her arm

But would she stay home

No, she worked like a gnome

And has probably done herself harm

(And here's my verse about Suzy)

She sure ain't no flussey

She works from her suitcase
Jokes are her bit

She writes poems with her wit

And she keeps us laughing in this place

A late start

It's 8am and I'm still at home and playing on the computer. State Highway 1 is closed due this morning due to a rolled truck at Porirua. All traffic is diverted through Tawa and the radio is saying to expect up to 2 hours delay. I've called the office and told them I'll be in as soon as I can, but in the meantime I'm really enjoying being able to get ready at a leisurely pace.

Of course I should probably be getting ready and possibly jumping on my work emails but where's the fun in that?! With work being pretty quiet I can at least take a couple of hours and relax and then head on in to work once the mammoth traffic has subsided and I can just get in without spending hours in a traffic jam.

Into the C's

Just a quick post to let you know that we are making progress in the C's for the Alphabetical Movie Project. We've watched "Cars" and "Casablanca" which I will do reviews for this coming week. We are about to enter a 7 Heather movie run. Yay :) So coming up we've got "Catch me if you can", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Cheaper by the Dozen", "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" (JP is really looking forward to those ones) and "Chicago". It's fun having a lot more C's than JP. hehehe.

neurofen = i do love it so. I came to realise today how much I rely on it when I discovered that the bottle of it that normally lives in our medicine cabinet was missing. Turned out that JP had taken it to work and now that he's staying with his gf for the weekend it's tucked safely away in his bag. So I spent the better half of the day walking around after Dad and Lex with a splitting headache. About 4pm I finally had a chance to get my hands on some painkillers to kill off this monster headache. It's just another factor that is pointing me to go get a GP check up and get these headaches etc sorted out. It'll cut down on the medicine bill too.

Team Social Activity

We had a team social outing tonight. For the first time we had invited partners, kids and best friends. Our more to the point - my best friend. hehehehe. I wasn't that fussed on inviting the extras because it does tend to alter the dynamic of the group. But it turned out to be kinda fun.

We went bowling (which I hate). JP and I got there a little early so that we could get a drink and some food. Everyone slowly came in and we congregrated around one huge table while doing all the introductions. It took two lanes to accomadate the 14 bowlers (damn ML managed to get out of the bowling - next time he's promised to cut me in on the plan). I was pleased to see that we were all pretty much as sucky as each other. I did manage to get a couple of strikes tho - yay :) That's pretty good for me. In fact I celebrated everytime I managed to get the ball in the right direction. I did try and do some fancy fred flintstone type move, but I almost forgot to let go of the ball and nearly ended up down the lane. So after that I realised I needed to just concentrate on bowling and not fancy footwork.

It was so nice to spend some fun time with JP too - we haven't done much of that lately. Now that we live together we tend to hang out together only when both of us are home, so we realised that we need to actually make an effort to hang out together more often. Just not bowling - I'm tired of it!

Art inspiration

I've been watching a new American reality show online "Work of Art: The Next Big Artist". It follows the same format as "Top Chef" which I am also obsessed with. I was a little skeptical at first about how this show could work, art is so subjective. But it's actually pretty good. In each episode they are challenged to create a piece of art within the parameters of the theme or idea of the week. One week they had to design a book cover for a classic book. The winner had theirs published. Another week they had to use only materials found in a children's art room to create a piece of work that showed how they grew as artists from childhood. Another week they had to create a piece of installation art for an empty outdoor space in New York City. Another week they had to use nature to inspire a piece of art and they had include a piece of nature in the work.

They have a showing of their work and then are judged by a panel consisting of an art critic, a gallery owner, an artist and some high-society chic I've never seen before. They tend to be judged on the merits of the art piece, the construction and their impressions of it. They don't let their own personal "I liked it" or "I didn't like it" get in the way of their critiques.

Interestingly I've found myself thinking about how I would approach the themes and challenges each week. I'm certainly not an accomplished, trained or experienced artist and I dont' think I'm anywhere near as clever as these artists, but I do think I'm artistic and I think it would interesting to do some of these works.

I haven't painted in quite some time despite having some good ideas. I don't seem to have the motivation to get out my paints and paint again. I think that if I did get out the paints and paint that would actually motivate me. I have done some abstract drawing since I last painted, but not recently. Recently I have become more interested in photography and the art that can be created with it. I've bought a stunning DSLR camera and as you'll know from posts below, I'm adoring my new macro lens.

I'd like to incorporate my photography, drawing and painting together. Perhaps I should talk to my art student family members for some ideas, or perhaps I should just pick up a pencil or paint brush and see what happens.

Ramadan

Ramadan starts today. So Happy Ramadan to all my Muslim friends!

I won't even attempt to try and explain Ramadan to all my non-Muslim readers. I will say that my experience with Ramadan was a few years ago when I was seeing a Muslim guy from the Middle East. He is a guy dedicated to his faith and I respect that. I don't have a faith of any kind so I found it very interesting to learn about a new and different faith from that that I was raised in.

Anyway I digress . . . every morning at about 4am BAH would wake up (and so would I because his alarm was loud) and head into the lounge to eat then pray, then climb back into bed before waking again at a more decent hour and going to work. In the evening the fast was broken with a date (the food not the social outing) and food.

Most people know that Ramadan requires fasting from food and drink during daylight hours, but it's also fasting from anything sexual. And yes that means no sex, but the most difficult thing I found was that meant no kiss goodbye in the morning or hug hello in the afternoon. It took several weeks to get used to, but once I did it was ok. Especially knowing that it was for a specific period of time.

During daylight hours it was an odd time for me and I wasn't even the one doing it. Especially when the night hours were very much the same as normal.

This year I don't have BAH doing Ramadan beside me. But I'd rather he was doing it here and I was supporting him through than to not have him here at all.

"The Butterfly Effect" and "Carlito's Way"

Soooo, it's been a while since JP and I had time to sit down together and watch a movie. We've been hanging on to this last B for some time. But we did get to it, and finally made our way out of the B's and into the C's (which, by the way, there are 28 of - the most of any other letter we own. It's going to take several months at least to get through them.)

"The Butterfly Effect" is a movie that I really enjoy, but I don't watch it very often because it also scares me some what. Ashton Kutcher stars as Evan, a young psych student that has suffered from blackouts since he was 7 years old. He has lost touch of his childhood love Kayleigh (played by Amy Smart) but reconnects with her when he discovers that he can use his journals to revisit the blackouts. Only by revisiting the blackouts of his childhood he alters everything and it's now a race to save the girl he loves.

What I love about this movie is the idea that you can alter your reality by altering your past. I'd like to say that it can't be done in reality, but the truth is, I don't know that for sure. I'd really like to believe that it could. The title "The Butterfly Effect" comes from the notion that if you change one small thing it creates ripple effects ultimately causing big waves. I believe in this notion, you definetly can't do one thing without it effecting something else. A bit of a lesson that we all need to learn in life.

Both Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart do superb acting jobs in this movie. Amy Smart plays the multiple personalities of her character with such believability. She's fantastic at making you believe. To a point that you'd almost believe it was a different actor or even character. Ashton Kutcher is great a playing the smart and yet traumatised man. He gets crazier and more frantic as you go on. He is also very good at making us believe that he is not doing this for himself, but for the girl he loves. Together they do an amazing job of portraying this love story that he is in, but that she has no idea about.

The other actors in this movie are great as well. Particularly the boys that play Evan as a 7 year old (Logan Lerman) and a 13 year old (John Patrick Amedori). They are both very believable as young Ashton Kutchers and really hold there own as actors and do the character great justice.

Don't get me wrong this movie is scary. There is murder and shocking scenes over and over. But you can get past all of that for the story. Should you watch it? Absolutely. It has something for everyone and you'll certainly find something that you enjoy about it. It's a classic in my book.

And so end's the B's. Phew. Now the biggest challenge starts - the C's.  .  .  .  .

The honor of being the first C goes to "Carlito's Way". This is one of JP's and is not one I knew too much about before watching it.

"Carlito's Way" stars Al Pacino and Sean Penn. It was made in 1993 and set in 1975. Al Pacino stars as the title character, a ex drug lord mobster that has just been released from prison. He's decided to go straight but struggles to do so against his old friends and his lawyer who has turned into a crimnal himself. And, he wants to reconnect with the girl he was wooing before prison.

What can I say about Al Pacino other than he was brilliant?! At the beginning of the movie you don't have a lot of sympathy for the character. You dislike him just because of who his character is and the typical character that he's going to portray. But then you realise that he is sticking to his resolve and there's something endearing about that. Especially when everyone around him gets more and more degrading or crimnalistic (if that's even a word?!) By the end of the movie you're just totally on his side and in love with this character that's trying to do the positive and right thing in life.

Sean Penn did a great job as the lawyer that has been lured to the other side - a life of crime. He plays the slimey lawyer man pretty well. It wasn't until about three quarters of the way through the movie that I realised that the character was Sean Penn. I don't know if that means he did an amazing job or not. I think it's the former.

This movie is not generally the kind of movie that I would watch, and I don't really imagine watching it again, unless perhaps I have a boyfriend that wants to watch a cult boys movie. As I'm learning from this project, the movies that I always thought I'd hate or previously dislike are not as terrible to watch as anticipated. Maybe I'm being a little more 'grown up' about them, or maybe I just know that I have to watch them, so I don't let myself get angry or worried about watching them?

Anyway. . . I liked it even though I thought I wouldn't. It was a good one to kick off the C's. Next? "Cars". Another Pixar movie. Yay :)

Hey body, What's up with you?!

I left work early on Friday afternoon as I was feeling under the weather. I wasn't sick as a dog or anything, but just generally feeling run down. I have a dead tooth that occasionally gets it's roots infected. Unfortunetly it's not usually until I've been generally unwell for several months that my teeth start to hurt and that's when I go to the dentist. As soon as I start getting sore teeth I head straight to the dentist. Oddly though after an afternoon of relaxing my teeth feel fine.

Today, the longer I sat at my desk the worse I felt. I had stomach cramps, period cramps, and a headache as well. To top it off I was twiddling my thumbs a little and this just makes it so much more obvious that I'm not feeling well.

Interestingly, last night and this morning something happened to me that I've never experienced before. Last night when I had turned off the light and was lying in bed I could "see" a patch of dark light that moved whenever my eye moved. I was a little freaked out at first, thinking it was some sort of ghost come to attack me in my slumber. Once I turned on the light again, I realised it must be my eye, not a ghouly ghost. Then this morning I was feeding the cats and my right eye flickered. You know how when a prisim catches the sunlight and shards of light scatter around the room? Well, that's what my right eye did with silver light for about 5-10 seconds. Never happened before.

Last night I had an incredibly painful sinus on my left side. It came on so quickly and it was so painful. JP held my head and massaged my sinus with deep pressure, which relieved it quickly thank goodness.

I've also had lot of hayfever flare ups over the last few months. I'm not sure, but I think it's the mild winter paired with my recent foray into gardening.

So, I think I need to do two things. 1. Go see my GP. I want a review of the hayfever medication and a good look at my hearing, head and sinus. And 2. I need too take a holiday from work. I need to de-stress and relax a little bit. I don't remember the last time I felt 100% and that's indicitaive of needing to make some changes. And the first one can be taking a break!

more photos . . .

It's a beautiful sunny sunday morning and I plan on spending the day doing chores. But before any chores can be done I must shower and go out for breakie with JP. Why? because we've pretty much run out of food. Sure we could have spaghetti on toast, but when I have a car and we both earn money, why should we?! JP is waiting patiently (I assume patiently, but I'm not entirely sure) for me to hurry up.

In the meantime I nipped outside and took advantage of the sunlight so I could try out my macro lens in the different light. I used the same section of garden - and why not, it's beautiful:

Women's Expo

This afternoon VR and I went to the Women's Expo at the TSB areana. I've been hearing about the Women's Expo for months now as the consultant's at work have been planning their stall for what seems like forever. I like expo's generally - I never miss the Food Show - but I have gone off them alot since being a consultant and expo's meant work!

I haven't spent much time with the girls recently and was reminded of this fact a few weeks ago. So in an effort to be a better friend I agreed to go on a girls outing to the Women's Expo. It ended up being VR and I as all the other girls had work to do or drinking to get prepared for. I didn't reallllly wanna go, but thought I would anyway. And to my surprise we had a good time.

$10 entry fee was pretty small compared to other expo's, so that was a good start. VR's plan is to do a swoop of the entire expo and then double back and have a better look at each stall.

I found my workmates squireled away in the far back corner, handing out brochures like every other stall owner. I had a good chat, but was mighty pleased I didn't have to stay for hours on end.

I quickly made a realisation that stall's fell into one of three groups. Group 1 - Stalls that were selling a product. Group 2 - Stalls that were giving away information. Group 3 - Stalls demonstrating a service. And almost all the stalls had some sort of competition or raffle to enter. Some sort of "Give me your contact details and I may give you a voucher to spend at my store" type form. I was determined to win something - I never win anything!

We ended up coming home with some grating plates, sticky rollers, a necklace and more brochures and business cards then I knew what to do with. Most of which went straight in the bin when I got home. Plus, a voucher for a free eye lash shaping and tinting, possible lush lashes (lash extensions) and VR signed herself up to host a Prenzel party.

After 2 hours we left, having had a much better time than I had anticipated. Yay.

And when I got home I waited for the rain to stop, then went to take more photos in the garden:

Camera Play

I left work at lunchtime today after having a slow morning and not feeling too well - I have a dead tooth that gives me grief every now and then. Luckily Friday's aren't very busy, so my team was happy to cover for me to go. I stopped off at the shops and got out some DVD's to curl up too.

The first movie was good - Valentines Day. It was done in the same style as Love Actually and I really enjoyed it. The second was The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler - yum yum. It was ok-ish. I got kinda distracted and ended up getting out my camera to have a we play while it was playing. You know a movie can't be great when you pause it mid way through to go do something else.

I took advantage of the fading light and took my first macro shots with my new macro lens. After just a few shots I knew I'd made the right decision in buying the lens. Just the amateur shots that I haven't done any extra work on are great. Here are a few for you to have a look at:

While I'm out in the garden my gorgeous cats stay warm inside and just watch . . .

Book Man

At work we have a "Book Man" who comes every fortnight with a new set of books and goodies. Some times there are a great bargains, great books, interesting and fun toys, and then sometimes there is nothing at all. Of course I can often spend lots of money.

This fortnight I bought two 'fact' books for a grand total of $4. They were on sale as they were the end of the line - a great little bargain.

Today "Book Man" bought a new toy - a dancing duck. He shakes his booty while quacking "Stupid Cupid . . " We've also had the strangling chicken - a chicken that walked along and sang, but he also squawked every time you grabbed it by the throat. I've seen a singing pig, a singing donkey and a laughing rooster. They are funny the first time, midly amusing for about four more rounds, and then they are very annoying. I never buy them, the novelty has always worn off by then.

In the past I've bought a lot of "fact" books, children's books and books for christmas pressies - like I say, great bargains!

If you don't have one already, you should definetly get a "Book Man" :)

Macro Lens

After months of research and saving I finally bought a macro lens for my camera. I've been wanting one for ages! Now that I'm home I just have to learn how to use it! Hopefully I'll have lots of pics to post soon, but first I have to start reading. . . . .

Wedding Planner-zilla

Yep, that's me. Well, it is from now on. Haha.

We had a mid-week wedding planning meeting to meet with PS - my very good friend and a costume designer. He's making the bridesmaid dresses for us. And at cost! Yay :) We had a good chat about designs, dates, info needed and making a plan for getting three gorgeous dresses for us in time for the wedding. We managed to come up with some good ideas and I think I'm pretty set on a design for mine. I'm going to keep my design fairly simple and funk it up with accessories.

We've also done a lot of planning on the invitations. I've set down deadlines for when the final missing info (registry info, a map and front photo/design) needs to be "in". (In = me). End of August is the deadline. We need to get it all to Dad to get to the printer in Sept so they can be posted in October.

So deadlines are necessary. With so much school work for Lee and lots going on with work for me, it's definetly necessary to set ourselves dates and deadlines for info, but that's a good thing.

Another wedding planning meeting is scheduled for normal wedding planning night on Wednesday with Mum. Should be good to go over other aspects of the wedding - phew!

Shopping

For several months my "To Buy" list has grown larger and larger. Unfortunetly I've been fairly low on funds and have only been able to afford the essentails. Thanks to Grandad's estate I now have enough cash to get the things I need, like shoes and boots, some tuperware and tops. I even found a $6 handbag and some kinda groovy slippers.

Next, I'm planning on finally getting the macro lens that I've been saving for for a long time. Hopefully this week I'll be able to get to Wellington Photographic Supplies in the city on my lunch break. Yay - very exciting.