Two day weeks

Oh two day weeks how I love you.

If you have work four days a week you tend to have to do five days worth of work in those four days. But, if you do two days, you only have to do two days of work.

New Plan = Only work two days a week. Ever.

Day 5

I've had 5 days off and while it hasn't be an overly relaxing break, it's be productive and I havn't been at work which was the main point. At the beginning of the break I had a long list of items I wanted to tick off. Below is the list and those in a delightful pink colour are the items that I managed to get done. Not to bad!

I couldn't decide if I liked having a list of things to do. I liked that it kept me focused and I definetly did more than if I didn't, but I did feel a little guilty at one stage when I just sat down and did nothing one evening.

Vaccuum and wash my car

Do the housework - vaccuum, mop, clean bathroom, clean toilet, clean kitchen etc

Read module 2 and do assignment for photography course

Visit my Gran in her new retirement home and take her shopping - she didn't need any shopping done in the end.

Pick up Dad from airport on Tues

Take Dad back to airport on Weds

Go to Lee's exhibition opening - And there's another one next Weds at Weltec if you're interested. I'm going to that one too.

Take rug to ChemDry for a quote to clean it - only $65! much better than the $300 I was expecting. Should take about a week.

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Do some more gardening

Start doing Wii Fit again

Work out what Christmas Presents I need to get

Buy a birthday present for Ness

Update career portfolio journal for work

Get the wedding planning on track - got a big wedding planning meeting on Sat (which is also invitation writing night)

Get up to date with my movie reviews for the Alphabetical Movie Project

Do some painting

. . . . and have some spare time left over for sitting in the sun with my book (oh well, maybe next break?!)

Day 4

On my fourth day off and first day of leave while everyone else is back at work (hehehehe) I've done the following things on my list:

Vaccuum and wash my car

Do the housework - vaccuum, mop, clean bathroom, clean toilet, clean kitchen etc

Visit my Gran in her new retirement home

Pick up Dad from airport on Tues

Go to Lee's exhibition opening

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Start doing Wii Fit again

Work out what Christmas Presents I need to get

Get up to date with my movie reviews for the Alphabetical Movie Project

I managed to get a lot done today, but I'm tired so will blog more about the visit to gran's new home and Lee's exhibition to later. 

Confessions of a Shopaholic and Confetti

Confessions of a Shopaholic is recent addition to my collection. It's the film adaption of a very popular book series by Sophie Kinsella. I've read a couple of them, but not all, and I've read a couple of her other books too. She writes very easy-to-read chic-lit books. The kind that you sit down and read in one sitting (in fact I did that once when we were staying in Foxton for NYE). The movie version was made last year and like most movie versions it strays from the storyline in the book.

Becky Bloomwood is a writer, trying to climb her way to the top of the magazine world, but she finds herself taking a job at finance magazine in the process. Not to worry, she uses her obsession of shopping to help her find her feet in this world. To help her find her way out from all her financial-shopping-induced problems is her best friend and the fear of the IRS agent chasing her.

Isla Fisher is the star of this movie. She's a stunning, short, firey redhead that has come along way from her days on Australian soap 'Home and Away'. She does a fantastic job of playing the bimboish Becky that always seems to get by by the skin of her teeth. Isla is supported by a legends Joan Cusack and John Goodman as her parents, along with Hugh Dancy as her boss/love interest and Krysten Ritter as her best friend. All these supporting actors help to pull the weak script together into an enjoyable movie.

As with most movie adaptions of books I find that the book is much better. I couldn't help but feel that this movie lacked a bit of substance and that's not just from knowing the book series. The stray from the book storyline can be forgiven - only because it's that's what happens with most movie adaptions these days and it becomes the 'norm'. But even so, this movie missed the point somewhere along the line.

Nevertheless it was one of those movies that is easy to watch and probably for the most part rather enjoyable. Don't make your fella watch it unless you have some good brownie points built up from watching Conan. He won't be happy as it's your typical chick flick with shopping a total no-go zone for him. Meanwhile, gather the girls around, a big tub of popcorn and enjoy it with those that will appreciate it!

Confetti is a quirky little British movie that I found - I'm not sure that it was ever out at the movies?! I may be wrong. It's one of those movies that looks kinda dumb by the cover and blurb on the back, but it's so funny to watch and a little bit different from the movies being made today that you enjoy it that much more.

Confetti Magazine is a popular wedding magazine that is holding a competition for the most Unique Wedding of the year. Three couples are chosen - the Tennis couple, the Musicals couple and the Nudist couple. They are given the help of two fabulously camp wedding planners and strict guidelines by the magazine to organise their wedding.

This movie is done in the style of a mockumentry which is what makes it so fresh and fun to watch. We follow along with all the characters as well as catch some of the 'behind the scenes' action. It's a fantastic way to tie all the various characters and action together to form a cohesive movie.

Confetti is British and has some good, currently popular British stars; Comedian Jimmy Carr and Martin Freeman (most famous for playing Tim in The Office, but also star of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead and Love Actually, and recently named to star as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit). Jessica Hynes (starred as 'Jessica Stevenson', and also known for her roles in Son of Rambow and Shaun of the Dead) also stars as well as actors I'm not familiar with - Stephen Mangan, Meredith MacNiell, Robert Webb, Olivia Colman, Jason Watkins and Vincent Franklin.

Each of the couples is hilarious in their own right. The Tennis couple are hungry to win and will stop at nothing to get the top prize. But what's with the enourmous nostrils she has?! The Musical couple are sweet but don't have a musical bone in their body. The Nudist couple are, well, nude. Yes, there are willies and boobs flying all over the place. And they want to be naked at their wedding which everyone agrees with, except the magazine. Eek. But the best part of this movie is the very camp and delightful wedding planners. They are so sweet and get caught up in the middle of all the couples and the magazine. They really steal the whole show.

This movie was one that my movie project partner JP wasn't really to overly interested in watching, but then really enjoyed it when we did (except perhaps the willies being out). It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but don't dismiss it without giving it a shot. It's funny - promise. Watch it!

some new garden pics

Day 3

So on Day 3 I've started a lot of the things on my 'To Do' List, but not actually finished them. So at the end of Day 3 the ticked off items are:

Vaccuum and wash my car

Do the housework - vaccuum, mop, clean bathroom, clean toilet, clean kitchen etc

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Start doing Wii Fit again

I have however (as you'll see below) been working on on getting up to date with my movie reviews - only 2 to go now, I've also done a wee bit of gardening - and by wee bit, I mean that I pulled the dead lillies out on my way to the letterbox, and I've mentally checked over my christmas present shopping list, just not physically.

Tomorrow I should be able to tick off a lot of items. I'm picking Dad up from the airport at 2.30, going to see Gran at her new home and then going to Lee's exhibition opening. And all of this is in the afternoon only, so plenty of time to get things done in the morning. Hopefully. Or maybe I'll just sleep in, seeing as I can.

Cocktail, Con Air, Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer

"Cocktail" is a movie that I watched over and over again as a teenager. It wasn't that I was a big Tom Cruise fan but that I really enjoyed the drinking and the drama! hahaha. . . and I now I enjoy the drinking and the drama in real life too. hahaha!

Brian Flannagan has just left the army and now needs a job. He tries to find a financial job, but finds himself working at the local bar with Doug Coughlan. Doug teaches Brian flare and together they become popular bartenders in New York. Until they argue and Brian head to Jamaica to work the bar there. He meets the girl of his dreams - Jordan, a US tourist. After a slight mishap with another lady he must head home to the US to fight for Jordan and reconnect with his old friend Doug.

"Cocktail" was made in 1988 and it smacks of 80's fashion and music, and not to mention the big hair!

Tom Cruise stars as Brian Flannagan. Australian Bryan Brown stars as Doug Coughlan and Elisabeth Shue plays the lovely Jordan. All three actors are very good and play well off of each other.

The fourth star of this movie is the cocktails themselves. Flare is the art of cocktail spinning, dancing, whatever you want to call it, and it's pretty impressive. hmmmmm. . . what else to say . . .  ummmmm.

"Cocktail" is one of those movies that is funny and dramafilled. It doesn't take a lot of thinking - the movie does all the thinking for you. For me it's rather nostalgic to watch and fun. Plus I like that he gets the girl in the end (sorry for the spoiler there, but I haven't go much else to day about it.)

Watch it, go on. You'll enjoy it and have a good time. But if you choose not to then you won't have missed to much either.

"Con Air" is another movie that I've owned for a really long time - it's one of those movies that I loved and watched over and over again when I was younger.

Cameron Poe is a recently paroled convict heading home to meet his wife and daughter. To get there he hitches a ride on the convict airplane, but rather than going home, he finds himself caught up in the middle of a giant air heist by the countries worst convicts. Rather than ditching as soon as he can, he stays to help the agent on the ground to bring the plane and the convicts down.

Nicholas Cage stars as Cameron Poe. I'm not a big Nicholas Cage fan, I think it's his voice and his squinty eyes. But he is a pretty good actor and I generally like the movies that he does - he does pick pretty good movies to work on. He plays a very convincing good guy with a very odd southern accent.

Con Air has some very good actors to support Nicholas Cage - John Cusack as the government agent on the ground, John Malkovich - the leasd convict on the plane and Steve Buscemi as the most prolific convict that even the other convicts are wary of him. Together they pull off a very good ensemble cast that keeps the action going throughout the whole movie.

This movie is lots of fun and fast paced. Unfortunetly it looses pace a little bit at the end. You know when you get to a point and you think that it's a good place to end and it keeps going? Well, this movie is like that. It keeps going and going and going. After the plan crashes and takes off and crashes again and then they steal a fire truck. . . you start to get a little weary. The fire truck was completely unnecessary.

It can be a little cliche at times - mainly with one liners from Cameron Poe. But if you can overlook that (and it doesn't take much) you get a really fun, fast paced movie. Con Air is like Cocktail - fun to watch but you wouldn't be missing to much if you decided not to watch it. But you may get some good brownie points with the boyfriend.

Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer were the next movies on the list. Good thing the sequel is also second in the alphabet too, otherwise I'd perhaps be a little confused. As it was, I had to ask a lot of questions just to keep up.  .  .

When he was a small child Conan watched his family and village be killed by a warlord and his men. He is taken in to slavery and works until he is the only child left at age 18. He is groomed into being a fighter and is flaunted all over the land, until he manages to escape. Together with a slave and a thief that he befriends on the way, he sets out to take revenge on the warlord that killed his family when he was young. He finds himself falling in love with the beautiful Valeria and doing everything he can to save her from the warlord.

Conan the Barbarian was made in 1982 and stars a young and very buff Arnold Schwarzengger. It took me a long time to get used to the idea of a young and oh-so-smooth Arnie. He's so .... buff! All I can think of when I watch him is 'True Lies', 'Terminator' and that he's now the governer of California. Meanwhile, the only other actor I recognise is James Earl Jones - again, a much younger version than I'm used too.

This movie is a real boys movie - lots of blood, guts and sex. Definetly a R16 movie and not for the faint of heart.

Overall, it wasn't too bad and not the most terrible couple of hours I had thought I'd be watching. That is of course until I realised that I still had Conan the Destroyer to watch after this. Could I possibly watch more of a young Arnie, how could I cope without the beautiful Valeria to break the macho men cycle?!

From what I gather Conan was a character in a comic that they turned into a movie character, which then spawned multiple movies, comics, books, action heroes etc. So chances are that the men in your life have at least heard of him.

Should you watch it?! - You can get some mega brownie points from your boyfriend and enjoy a few hours of buff Arnie watching. Then if you must (because you've started an alphabetical movie project with your mate) you can watch the sequel - Conan the Destroyer.

So of course, next on the list was Conan the Destoyer. Arnold Schwarzenegger is back as the buff Conan. This time he's out for revenge on the same warlord that killed both his family and his girlfriend. Only this time he's got a new band of ragtag misfits and is a lot PGer than before.

Grace Jones stars as the slightly crazy Zulu - a slave he helps to rescue on his journey. And once again, theres only one other actor that I recognise.

This sequel is a lot tamer and child-friendly than the original. In fact I believe my counterpart, JP, saw this at the movies before he saw the original, and I can understand why. There's no blood, there's no guts and there's no sex. Almost a bit boring by comparison. There's even an evil queen and a princess - it's heading in to fairytale territory, completely missing the mark of what the original set up. A shame really, because if they'd done it correctly the franchisee could have gone on to great heights. Oh well.

Should you watch it - nah, don't bother. Unless you're trying to impress the boyfriend, and even then I don't think he'd be impressed, but at least greatful that he had a cool enough girlfriend to sit and watch this with him.

Day 2

Day two has seen me in the kitchen. Not cooking, but CLEANING. I've cleaned that kitchen to within an inch of it's life. We're not talking just your normal weekly clean, but a reallll clean. I emptied out and cleaned inside the fridge and the microwave. Taken apart the stove top and bam'ed the sink and bench. Phew! Go me. And then, JP took over the kitchen and cooked a roast duck. It was beautiful, but the kitchen was no longer spotlessly clean.  .  .

On day two the 'To Do' List has the following items ticked off:

Vaccuum and wash my car

Do the housework - vaccuum, mop, clean bathroom, clean toilet, clean kitchen etc

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Start doing Wii Fit again

Grammatical Graffiti

Last weekend JP and I went to Wholly Bagels and on the way found an ACC poster on the wall. The poster read  "One in seven New Zealanders were injured in the home last year". Someone had crossed out 'were' and written 'was'. Pretty funny to see some grammatical graffiti - only in Wellington I guess.

Then on Friday I went back to Wholly Bagels for lunch and passed the same poster. Only now someone else had corrected the graffiti. Love it!

Day 1

Day 1 of my long weekend to do list and I've ticked off:

Vaccuum and wash my car

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Not the biggest amount of stuff done, but I did something! and it's a saturday and it's only the first of five days. I can get more done tomorrow. And, JP and I have agreedd that tomorrow is chore day. Oh Yay.

Long Weekend "To Do" List

This weekend is a long one, but even more so as I have Tues and Weds off too (one day annual leave and one day flexi leave). Here's a list of things I wanna get done with my five days off:

Vaccuum and wash my car

Do the housework - vaccuum, mop, clean bathroom, clean toilet, clean kitchen etc

Read module 2 and do assignment for photography course

Visit my Gran in her new retirement home and take her shopping

Pick up Dad from airport on Tues

Take Dad back to airport on Weds

Go to Lee's exhibition opening

Take rug to ChemDry for a quote to clean it

Go for dinner on Sat night with friends (for Candy's birthday)

Do some more gardening

Start doing Wii Fit again

Work out what Christmas Presents I need to get

Buy a birthday present for Ness

Update career portfolio journal for work

Get the wedding planning on track

Get up to date with my movie reviews for the Alphabetical Movie Project

Do some painting

.  .  .  .  and have some spare time left over for sitting in the sun with my book

21 October

All week I've been going a little stir crazy. I always know I'm in need of a wee break when I start going stir crazy at work. Today was one of those days where everything annoys you and nothing goes right. I just figured that it was because I'm at the stir crazy point and know that I'm one more day away from a 5 day weekend.

On the way home I realised that today's 21st October. A date that all day I felt there was something more significant about it than it being a Thursday.

12 years ago today I attended the funeral of my best friend. I barely remember it. I remember the church and being pissed off that they kept talking about God and not about Camille - but that's what can you expect from a Catholic funeral for a suicide victim. It was obviously a very traumatic time in my life and as I blogged earlier this week it has effected me much more than I ever thought.
The next day I went to the teacher college to sit my entrance tests. I remember it slightly, but I think I was just doing the best I could with what I had to deal with. I made it in.

21st October is also Camille's parents wedding anniversary. I remember thinking how sad it was that her parents were celebrating their anniversary by burying their daughter. Camille's mother spoke at the funeral, she read a letter that she had written to Camille (after she died) about how much she loved her and what an amazing person she was. My Mum wrote me a similar letter later that week. She told me that she thought it was so sad that Camille's mother didn't do it when she was alive. I've read my Mum's letter once and never since. It makes me too emotional. I still have it and one day I'll be able to read it again.

Today is also my parent's wedding anniversary. Or should have been to be more accurate. If they were still together it would have been 32 years today. But they aren't together. They seperated 3 years ago and divorced earlier this year. I was 26 and so many people assumed that I should be ok with my parents seperating. I'm an adult, they're adults, it's all ok and non-important, right?! Ah, NO! Having your parent's seperate at any age is difficult and I don't think it matters how good the intentions of the parents are - it's going to be difficult. As an adult there's a lot of pressure to be supportive of your parents, to get over it pretty quickly and to be happy for them almost immediately. In my opinion, both of my parents are better off apart and are both leading much happier and better lifes apart than they would have if they had stayed together. But knowing this doesn't make it any easier, or mean I have to like it.

So at the end of today I realise that today probably wasn't going to be an easy day, I just didn't know it this morning. Tomorrow's the 22nd October - I don't think I have any 'issues' with that date. . . that I remember right now.

Soup

Recently I've taken to buying cook books. I love reading them and always have the best of the intentions to cook so many of the recipes. I've made a few. I really should make more of an effort. Perhaps I should make a pact with myself to cook one recipe out of a cookbook each week. It might not sound like much to some, but it's alot to me.

I'm good at some things in the kitchen though. I'm good at soup. Tonight I made Potatoe and Leek soup. I have a pretty good reciepe and it's fairly easy. This time I didn't follow the reciepe as much as using up all the old leeks and potatoes that I had. And for that reason I think it may be a little to 'leeky'. I'll have to have some for lunch tomorrow to find our for sure.

Anyway, back to the cookbooks, I bought Jamie Olivers "Ministry of Food" cookbook which is a good read. It has simple, easy recipes that everyone should know and find really easy to learn. I have several ethnic food cookbooks as well as the Australian Woman's Weekly cookbook. It's another great one for learning basic recipes. I've used it to learn how to make polenta, hummus, cheese sauce and a fantastic roast dinner.

Yum Yum!

Camille

Yesterday (16 Oct) marked 12 years since my very dear friend Camille died. She committed suicide in her parents garage in the wee hours of the morning. After coming back from a psychologically damaging student exchange in Germany she had found she had no place in her group of friends and made the choice to end her life.

I was 17 and a year ahead of her at school. Despite being her neighbour I found out at lunchtime. But it didn't hit me until the last period of the day when in the middle of Geography I bolted. JD followed me down and called Mum for me. I remember going next door and telling her mother "It will all be ok". I remember the day like it was yesterday.

I could tell you all about the next few days, the next few weeks and the next few years, but I won't because it would take to long.

Camilles' death has had a prolonged effect on my life. I lost my best friend that day, but I feel like I lost so much more too. Much more than I can or want to go in to here. I find that the older I get the more her death effects me, or the more I realise how much her death actually did effect me. I go through phases of blaming myself for not being a better friend, I go through phases of missing her terribly, and I go through phases where I'm angry that she did it and it changed my life.

If she hadn't had done it I wouldn't be the person I am today, but I think (or I have to believe) that she made the best choice for her. I recently heard a quote that I think is perfect - "We do the best we can with what we have". I do wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't lost a friend at such a young age.  .  .  .

Fridays

I've started disliking Fridays. Fridays mean the end of the week and the start of the weekend. But, it also means a long, tired day at work. Everyone scives off as early as possible and the day just drags on and on. And for some reason all the loonies call on Friday afternoon. The phone just doesn't stop ringing and it's people that have lots of questions, or really odd ones. Like they suddenly realise they promised to ring us before the weekend, and they better get in now because it's only a few hours to go. Annoying! 5pm seems to take forever to come along on a Friday. At least when it finally does, it's the weekend. hmmmmmm

1 good thing about having a cold . . . .

I've discovered a good thing about having a cold AND being seated so closely to the girls at work. Every time I blow my nose, if I make it sound loud and long and hilarious it grosses out my workmates and they have a hissy fit. FUN-NY!

muwahahahahahahaha!

"Clueless"

"Clueless" is a cult classic from my teenage years - the 90's - and that's why I own it. I probably haven't watched it since I bought it, but how can someone my age not have it in their collection?!

So if you've just crawled out from under a rock or are young enough to have been born after the turn of the century, you'll be needing a bit of a synopsis;
Cher is the only daughter of a wealthy lawyer in LA. Along with her equally snobby best friend Dionne, they rule the school. Looking for a new cause they befriend newcomer Tai and work on making her over from drab to fab. She has her very own gay boyfriend and very handsome ex-step-brother, not to mention two teachers she needs to distract with each other so she can improve her grades. It's just your normal teenage life isn't it?!

This is the movie that launched Alicia Silverstone onto the silver screen and she was a big hit. Unfortunetly for her, she isn't actually that great of an actress and hasn't done many favours for herself with movie choices. She coasts on the popularity of this first movie in which she was lucky enough to find a part that actually benefitted from her natural dumb blonde capabilities.

"Clueless" also starrs Donald Faison (who went on to star in the TV show "Scrubs"), Paul Rudd, the late Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer and Elisa Donovan (who seems oddly familiar).
I love Paul Rudd. He's a great actor, totally adorable and always funny. He always manages to pull off good comic timing and he seems to pick good movies that suit him well.
Donald Faisons character strikes me as a young version of the character he plays on "Scrubs", not a stretch of the imagination on our behalf or a stretch of his acting abilities. I think he's got some skills, but I'm not sure that I've really seen them. Have you?
Breckin Meyer is another personal faveourite. He's goofy and funny. Love him. He's in all sorts of different movies - you'll see him pop up all the time in these movie reviews - and like Paul Rudd, he's good in almost everything he does. He's probably not the most brilliant actor around, but he picks good movies that suit him and he abilities. Just like Paul Rudd remember.

This movie reeks of everything that was typical about the 90's. You can't go past the brick-like cell phones, the high waisted jeans and catchy phrases like the very sarcastic "Whatever". Or the hilarious 90's music and ridiculous problems teenagers tend to have. You get sucked in to this strange, wealthy kids lifes, but always with an outsiders view because the whole thing is so funny or is that ridiculously unrealistic?!

Watch it because it's a cult-classic. You have too! Especially if you're my age :)

Bees in the Garden

You know it's spring when you can chase bee's around the garden

Jet goes to the beach. . .

PS and I went to buy fabric for Lee's bridesmaid dresses this afternoon. We took his dog Jet with us. Jet is an eight month old, black, Labrador puppy. After stopping for a quick shop at Animates and at The Fabric Warehouse for fabric (and they didn't have the fabric we were looking for- eek) we went to Island Bay for fish n' chips and then on to Owhiro Bay for Jet's first beach trip. And I took my camera. Check out the pics:

Jet wasn't keen on going in the water when we first got there.

"No! Don't make me go in the water!"

Jet loved being off his lead. He ran up and down the beach while Paul tried to catch him.

Once he got in, he loved it. And he loved getting me all wet too.

Shaken doggy!

Flying doggy!

Exhibition Opening

Last night Lee invited me along to an exhibition opening at a local gallery. One of the artists was Helen Calder, an artist that works with paint skins and who has been one of the inspirations behind Lee's work.

When we arrived it felt like we were gate crashing someone else's birthday party. We didn't know anyone else. We had a squeez around the gallery and then stood chatting about the works, all the while keeping an eye out for people that could possibly be Helen Calder. After much cajooling of Lee, I talked to the gallery owner and asked her to introduce us to Helen, which she did!

It was nice to talk to an artist in-real-life. She was very sweet and seemed really flattered when Lee told her about how she uses her as a reference in her own work. Once she heard that she was keen to come along to Lee's end of year exhibition which opens at the end of the month. She had all sorts of advice for Lee too. I was so proud :)

We left shortly afterwards with a little spring in our step.

Monday Night = Game Night

For ages I've been hearing about EM's Monday Games Night. Every Monday her flat challenges her brothers flat at some type of game (usually a board game). The loser from last weeks game hosts and provides dinner.

JP and I went on a bit of a board game shopping spree on Sunday and ended up playing games all evening. So we decided a Monday Games night was in order.

It was boys (CR, MW & JP) versus girls (VR, RC & me) in a rousing game of Cranium.
The boys thought they had a round in the bag with a question about JRR Tolkein. But who would have guessed that there really is a character named 'groin' in his books - certainly not our boys.
The girls seemed to be best at the Creative Cat's and not so great at the Data Heads or Word Worms. Meanwhile the boys seemed to be best at the Data Head's and not so much with the Star Performers.

Us girls dominated for the majority of the game right until the end (when it really matters). The boys snaked us at the post to take the game home.

We decided that for the next game the losers would have to provide nibbles, so looks like us girls will be bringing the nibbles!

Monday night is the night that seems so dreary at the beginning of a long week. But games night made Monday fun and energising. I definetly think we should try and do it weekly if everyone's keen!

What a Weekend

What a beautiful, hot, sunny, relaxing weekend! Our internet at home is on the go-slow again so I had to find other ways to entertain myself, and I realised that I really get much more out of my days if I'm not in front of the comupter all the time. I really need to remember that when the internet is back on. Remind me ok?!

It started off with a lovely catch up with JD over drinks and dinner at the Roundabout. An old haunt in Tawa that we haven't been to much recently considering how much we used to frequent it (I'm have flashbacks to the days we would sit there for 8 hours at a time . . . )

Saturday morning JP, JD and I joined the rest of our friends at Monteiths in Paremata in order to help CR celebrate his new job and return to the IT world. It would seem that everyone was rather hungry as the amount of food ordered would have fed a small African nation. I was particualarly impressed with ES for ordering the Waffles with a side of sausages and both MW and JP for ordering the Big Breakfast with a side of Waffles! Every morsel was put away with great gusto.

On Saturday afternoon I sat in the sun on the deck and read through my first module for my photography course while simultanesouly sunbathing. It was glorious! Sixteen was very excited to be sitting in the sun with me despite being rather restless - I must admit it must have been really boring watching me read all afternoon.

That night JP and I played Scrabble. Which sounds boring, but it wasn't. I was doing really well until JP got "Queen" on a tripple word score and I just got angry. Enough of that, it was time to watch "Conan the Destroyer".

Sunday morning was a bit of a repeat of Saturday morning only this time I was brunching with Mum, Lee and Morgan at The Realm, Hataitai (are you singing the song right now?!) Mum's birthday was Saturday, but Lee works, so we did it on Sunday instead. They do a $5 brunch on the weekends and the meals are pretty decent sizes. We were able to have a mini wedding catch up, which started to freak Morgan out a wee bit, but hey, he's the groom!

Afterwards Mum and I went down to the quilt show in the hall of St Pat's in Kilbirnie. Sounds boring right? and for most of you that would be true, but my artistic eye rather enjoyed having a look through.

Sunday afternoon I came home to discover that JP had done the mammoth pile of dishes and even put them away. How big was this pile you ask? I had to feed the cats on plates, that's how big it was. What a good wee flatmate I have!

We went out to The Warehouse for a wee looksy. I wanted to hunt down the latest 'Glee' dvd and find some art supplies. Meanwhile JP and I found ourselves in the games section where we bought Adult version of Cranium, Candy Land, and The Great Mammoth Hunt. RC came over for the evening and we played games all night. It was soooo much fun!! Now we're thinking of having the gang over to play Cranium and other board games.

Happy Birthday MUM!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear MUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!

It was 5.30pm on a beautiful sunny Friday afternoon and I was going to the pub for a drink with a great friend. SUMMER'S COMING!