Fun with friends

Went home for Christmas, the Inglewood home that is. Was very nice and a chilled out break. Caught up with a couple friends and just chilled with family which was, as always, awesome. Watched some cricket, ate too much and went for a stroll on the hill, pretty standard stuff really.

Drove back home ystdy, the Hastings one, cheers to mum and dad for coming as far as Sanson with me so I didn't have to drive it all alone. Well technically dad and I went as far as Sanson together and mum went in her new car so that dad could get home again but that's a minor detail.
Found me a boyfriend along the way but I think he's not a keeper cos he's way too tall, would get a sore neck looking up at him all the time. Also found a pet for us, that one I think we'll keep cos he was real nice and chilled. We also stopped at a farm cos Willis E, who we picked up in Sanson from mum, claimed he hadn't been to one. Spartz also got in a pic at the farm cos he likes his pics and he was looking good so I couldn't resist.

Just another wknd in the life of me :)

It's been a relaxing wknd with a few moments of activity thrown in when doing the jobs I wanted to get done 😊

Ystdy morning was very chilled, other than doing the washing and ducking out to the supermarket I spent the rest of the morning getting to know the couch better, Glenny said it was feeling neglected hehe. In the arvo I mowed the lawns and broke down the compost bin and froze some spinach cos it's growing faster than I can eat it.

Today I read for ages, not my fault really, Wilbur Smith just writes too well. Then I washed the house, not well but still a wash is a wash, I think... Lol. After that needed a rest so read some more 😊
This afternoon Steph and I went down to the Three Wise Birds Cider Garden Bar opening, very busy but we found a nice spot to enjoy our cider and catch up, and make plans for our next visit. Its only 1.5km from my house so we gonna walk next time and stop at Bareknuckle along the way hehe. After I got home I did my baking for the coming week, peanut brownies and Weet-bix slice if you're wondering and yes I pretend I don't put coconut in the slice.

Almost Christmas, kinda scary how fast the year has gone. Thanks to everyone that helped me with my advent calender, I am enjoying opening the msgs everyday. Gonna be sad when it ends, but you all now have my address if you want to give my letterbox some love hehe. All intentions will be made to return letters with replies but they may not be fast in coming, apologies in advance hehe.

Also found a good use for holiday pics, got a couple jigsaws made, planning to get more done in the new year, really like them 😊 must admit I haven't learnt tho, from experience I know trains make annoying jigsaws and so does blue sky, so of course choose two photos that included these, go me haha.

Meet my girl Vee

This is my new girl Vee. She is gonna help keep my place looking tidy as, all I gotta do is provide a room with a view, which she has thanks to dad putting a window in. She is way better at mowing the lawns than the crappy as stroppy boy push mower dad has kindly taken off my hands, he never even got named cos he was that bad.
Mowing lawns is fun again, thanks Vee 😊

Post #350 - never thought would keep this going for so long :)

It's been a pretty busy week and a bit for me, good busy though :)

Last wknd bro came to visit on the Saturday, just for the day. We went and saw They Shall Not Grow Old, a war doco movie which was actually not to bad, better than I was expecting. We then went to the Lions Annual Book Sale, which was also better than I was expecting. So many books and at good prices and in good conditions. Will def be going back next year, and most likely donating books to them as well. Can't member what else we did other than eat but it was good to hang out.

Sunday did some stuff round the house then went and saw A Star Is Born with Samara, David and Carolyn (Samara's mum). Think I'm about the only person I know who thought it was predictable and not super amazing, still worth seeing but would prob recommend waiting till dvd or streaming it lol.

Work Monday and Tuesday was standard life stuff, minus the heading over to Ohakune after work on Tuesday. Stayed at Laura and Ted's and on Wednesday early morning Laura, Shura, Laura's parents and I all headed up to Auckland so Laura could have a look at wedding dresses. She had one in mind and was going up to try it and few others on. It was a very long but happily successful day :)

Came back home on Thursday, and much to my relief Glenny hadn't pranked our place like he had claimed he was going to. Dad also arrived here later on on Thursday as he is visiting for a few days.

Had Friday off, cos what is the point of working one day when you have a visitor and leave to be used... hehe. Dad and I attacked a couple trees and he also put a window in my garden shed, and it now is way less murder shed like lol. We went out to dinner with my friend Steph, we went to Bareknuckle BBQ which was real yum. Steph and I then dropped dad off and headed to Aubyn Theatre to see a show, it's just down the road from me so we had to go check it out. Was real good and we already know we wanna go again next show, whatever it ends up being :)

Saturday took dad, Missie and Smyly up Te Mata Peak, then we went out for lunch. Arvo was back to work cleaning up the mess we made the day before, got most it cleaned up but had to finish off some this morning. This morning we went to the dump twice, well we went once and drove thru twice as we had general waste and green waste and its done by weight. The guys there were very helpful though and helped us empty out the car which was appreciated. I then took dad up two more hills, mountains if we wanna sound more impressive though hehe. On the way up Sugar Loaf we ran into Carolyn who was heading down with Kaysha, we had a quick lil chat then headed our own ways. After Sugar Loaf we headed up Bluff Hill, then made our way back home. Can't see heaps happening for the rest of the day cos this old girls feeling very buggered, dad's pottering though so who knows.

Te Mata Peak

Two friends just chilling

Sugar Loaf

Bluff Hill

Smyly pointing the way home

Samara takes me to the most 'interesting' places lol

This wknd has been an extra long one for me as now that I live in the Bay I get Hawke's Bay anniversary which is the Friday before Labour Day, so 4 day wknd, score! And awesomely Hawke's Bay anniversary coincides with the last day of the A&P show, so that's where Samara and I headed on Friday morning. Was pretty awesome, watched heaps of wood chopping, saw the chickens and sheep and bulls and alpacas and clydesdale horses and a gecko and weta, even saw a police tractor which had the whirly lights and everything :) recognised some of the names and faces of the wood choppers, turned out they were the ones from Taranaki, maybe I watch a bit much wood chopping at events like that but am sure that's not a bad thing :) even found out how the handicap system works which was cool, for those wondering they get 1 second added for every $50 they made in that event at the last round. So the dudes that start at 23 or 25 are not only better but richer than those who start at 3 hehe.
We also checked out a talk by the ladies from Hapi (a gluten free organic cafe in Napier) which was pretty cool. Did have a gluten free hotdog, the type that is a sausage in a bun which ain't had for ages, for lunch from the stall they had. It was super yum and I wished I coulda fitted two in.

After the show we came back to mine to make sangria and get dinner organised cos we were going to see David (Samara's partner) gig later that night. The sangria was awesome and we played board games as well which was fun. Samara doesn't like playing cards with me no more :( not my fault I won every hand at each game we played last time. We had polenta and meatballs for tea, not sure I'd recommend polenta but as Samara cooked it I didn't complain, much. If your wondering it's not unusual for me to get kicked out of my kitchen when they are here, they like cooking and I apparently just get in the way :)

David's gig at the Common Room was once again interesting. Not him and Michael being interesting, the crowd. Him and Michael are real good, love watching them play. They just have fun and don't seem to care if crowd likes them or not which makes it fun to watch. There were some definite weirdos in the crowd this time, some same as last time, some new. Spent a fair chunk of the evening laughing hard, and a fair chunk yawning while getting the evils from David, lol Samara was yawning too so I wasn't alone in getting the evils.

Saturday morning I chilled then just after lunch I headed into Napier to pick up Samara and we headed out to Zeffer Cidery for their grand opening. We didn't stay long as there was pretty much no shade and there were so many kids. It was way too hot to chill there so we had one quick drink while ppl watching, boy were there some pink ppl already, silly kiwis who still don't get the cover up and sunscreen idea. We are going to go back some other wknd though as it is a nice place and they do good cider.

After we left we just chilled at hers till we headed into town for White Night. White Night is a free art event that kicks off the art festival, some of the streets are closed and galleries are open in the evening for free with activities and performances also happening. We started off by going to the Municipal Theater to see Pango. This was a performance by a dance group from Wellington and it told the story of the Maori version of creation. Samara and I have decided that we are really not fans of interpretive dance. Boy was it weird, and disturbing in places, extremely disturbing in a couple places. We are pretty sure there was cannibalism in it, and a birth, but we aren't 100% certain. Definitely don't think kids should have seen it but there were heaps there. Bits were also really good tho, but overall I'm going with it was interesting....
After the performance we wandered round the galleries, caught another interpretive dance performance which just solidified our belief that we aren't fans. Some of the art we saw was pretty cool tho. Best part would've def been the White Room at the CAN where for $2 you got a sheet of white dots to help decorate room, so much fun. Below are pics :)

Sunday went shopping with Samara and her mum, her mum was getting new glasses and wanted our opinions, and we all just wanted to shop some as well. Was a very good day, even if uneventful compared to the past two days.

Today I just chilled in Hastings. Bit of shopping, lots of pottering, some relaxing. I have changed my spare room from a guest and craft room to just a craft room :) so much better now. It has a table where the bed was so I can now cut and pin fabric on something other than lap or floor :) have also put the pictures I coloured from the dress colouring book on the wall for inspiration. Have more space in there for creating now which is cool, cos yeah having a whole lounge ain't enough lol. Do have an airbed for those visitors who I can't say no to, that was my shopping this morning. See I do kinda care, maybe, if I have to lol.

My dot creation 

The White Room

Hey all :)

So just a lil update for you dudes and dudettes. Been a chilled out wknd with a bit of pottering, went for a walk into town ystdy to browse shops and do grocery shopping. Not the best grocery shopping as although everything fitted in backpack it turns out most of what I needed to get was heavy stuff, esp when all packed into a bag. Good thing it's not a too longer walk. Then after a chilled out arvo headed into Napier to see Samara and her mum. Samara and I were heading to a movie later on and her mum was gonna teach me to make a 2min noodle omelette so went over for dinner and of course to catch up cos hadn't seen either of them since Friday lol. Surprisingly 2min noodle omelettes are actually quite tasty, gobbled mine up very fast. The movie we went to see was A Simple Favour, it was rather weird and a bit strange and slightly disturbing in places but we both liked it overall, def created some good conversation afterwards.

This morning did a bunch of outside stuff that needed doing then took it easy this afternoon. Baked a lemon cake which turned out super well, very glad I don't gotta share it hehe :) finished my jigsaw, it's pretty cool tho I swear Glenny and Fishy borrowed pieces along the way and swapped them with other ones when I wasn't looking.

Guess it's back to work tomorrow, oh yay, nah its not actually too bad at the moment :)

 Just waiting on grass to grow then front area will be finished :) 

 The boys testing out bench seat, think they were hoping it'd collapse, such faith in my building abilities 

Dinner in a pretty bowl, just cos :D

My cool, and slightly evil in places, jigsaw

Life as a house owner

So I totally have this owning my own place thing down. My bdrm is on its 2nd layout, as is the spare room, and the lounge is on its 3rd. I am about 87% sure that the spare room will stay how it is, and 100% sure that the lounge and my room will be changed again :)

Yes I'm aware it's only been a couple months since I moved in but hey life is all about change right :) hehe

From prison to a hole in one

This past wknd Laura and Ted came over for a visit for her birthday, Mike and Suzanne also came over but they stayed with a friend in Napier.  It was awesome catching up with them all and taking them sightseeing plus to a few new places.

First on our list of places was Napier Prison. Turns out I'm a pretty good criminal, first didn't really care got arrested, then stole the gun from the copper and then became one :) silly police ppl letting me in haha. And ok I did get locked up but atlst I didn't look quite as crazed as Ted did, so figure points to me there :)
Over all the prison was a bit weird, the start was real fun and cool but then it got real serious and felt wrong to have paid to visit the place, some of the old cells felt eerie like some very bad stuff had gone on in them, which judging from the facts on the walls it had. We all left feeling a lil gloomy and serious. Would say it's still worth going to see but just beware of the more serious side as we weren't expecting it and it took us by surprise.

We then headed off to mini golf (am sure we ate at some stage but cannot remember where or when haha). Did the green course again, mostly cos the blue one was full of kids. Not that doing the one I'd already played helped me at all, though I did get a hole in one, along with Laura and Suzanne :D sorry boys but the girls totally rocked more haha

After a chill out break back at mine we went to Thai Silk for dinner. Hadn't been there before but it wont be the last time I go, the food was amazing and the server was awesome. Definitely recommend it if you are looking for Thai in Hastings.

Sunday morning, once I woke Laura up (hehe) we went for a walk to get some coffee, ended up getting a coffee from a street cart on our wander and walking while drinking them, did 5-ish km all up before we got back to mine to wake Ted up so we could meet Mike and Suzanne and their friend Anna and her boys for brunch in Napier.

Overall it was an awesome wknd, and the weather was amazing for my guests :) very generous of Mother Nature and she also watered my shrubs again today, she is doing so much better at that than me yet is not overwatering them, she must be a gardener hehe :)

Did fare better than this dude haha 

Apparently this cat is sometimes there sometimes not so is known as the ghost cat, seemed pretty solid to me tho... 

Hole in one pros hehe 

August update

So I know August isn't totally over yet but figure a jumping the gun update is better than a whoops I forgot no update hehe :)

Month started off good, had a bday which means I'm even more awesome than before, I know amazing aye. You'd think I'd reach a max awesome level at some stage but nope I just keep getting more and more awesome every year :)

Sadly a couple days after my bday my grandma passed away :'(
And a couple weeks after that Uncle Ian passed away as well :(
Nothing else to add to those points as words can't really sum up how not impressed I am at that turn of events.

Dad came and chilled at my place btwn my birthday wknd and grandma's funeral, he'd prob use the word worked not chilled but hey just a couple diff letters is all that is :) Mum came back with us after the funeral for the wknd so she also got to see my place.
With the work dad did and what I've done and 'roped' my brother and Uncle Terry (technically Uncle Terry offered his assistance) into helping with the place is starting to look pretty good, if I do say so myself. Still got plenty to do but that'll just help fill in my wknds :)

Have signed up for Steptember with a few workmates, we have called ourselves the Record Breakers seeing as we work in the Records Team lol. Aim is to do 10,000 steps a day for the month of September and raise money for Cerebral Palsy.  If you would like to support our team or donate to the cause please follow this link (fingers crossed it works):
https://stept.io/9gjVkfF

Our work team has also signed up for a Business House Volleyball League, social of course. Runs for 5 weeks and our team name is I'd Hit That, hehe we were on a team name roll that week. Sadly the first game was tonight I had to miss it cos of a dumb as stupid cold :( am living on hot lemon drinks (and obviously some food) , good thing I have a lemon tree that's got way too many lemons on it :)

Everything else is trucking along as per normal. Glenny loves owning a house but his efforts of helping with chores is as non-existent as ever, not sure why I'm surprised really. Must admit it's pretty cool having own place to do what you want when :)

Relaxing and Rambling with the Raglan Rallies

This wknd Uncle Terry and Aunty Kay came over to visit which was awesome. I got to show off my new place, and put Uncle Terry to work hehe. His choice actually cos I did say could wait for Dof but being the nice Miller Male he is he got right to work which meant Aunty Kay and I could have a good girls catch up in the sun 😀

On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk up Bluff Hill and saw the port from above, and on the way back to town I showed them the hilarious danger signs around that area. We stopped off at Matisse for a wine (beer for Uncle Terry) and a snack, as always great service, great music, good wine and the food was amazing too. After some more catching up at their motel I finally headed home.

Sunday morning I pottered at home while they went for a walk along the coastal pathway, I'm still not sure what it's official name is but that seems fitting. And in the afternoon we went to the National Aquarium of NZ. Was actually pretty cool 😀 we saw the sharks being fed, lots and lots of turtles and the penguins were having a blast playing in the spray intake things in their pool.

Monday morning Uncle Terry and I went for a wander on Te Mata Peak. We did the blue track, when we finally found it, I may have taken us on a couple sightseeing tracks first hehe. Then Uncle Terry had a nap (he is a grandpa after all, and he will claim he didn't nap hehe) while Aunty Kay and I went to the secondhand bookshop just up the road. I had heard good things about it and was not disappointed, it's fantastic inside and definitely won't be helping me save money and will probably result in me definitely needing a second bookcase lol. We finished off Monday with dinner at mine, managed to cook without setting off the smoke alarm that dad nicely fitted for me, mostly cos I've learnt to shut the hall door when I'm cooking hehe.

Was a great wknd and the weather behaved for us, was nice and sunny if a lil chilly but that's OK 😀

National Aquarium of NZ

Te Mata Peak

Same old yet completely different

So last wknd I moved into my new place in Hastings, and put dad to work on the Sunday for the entire day. Am sure he enjoyed it cos his comments sure seemed to fall on mostly uncaring ears hehe. Was a good and very productive wknd tho and I can't wait till mum and dad come back again when there is less that needs doing so we can chill some and also I can take them sightseeing.

Glenny and I have settled in very well, and it seems that the rooms and responsibilities have been assigned. EJ and Co get the spare room, Glenny gets the whole place and Missie is learning to guard, Sarg is her teacher of course. They are currently guarding the China cabinet. Not quite sure what I get but it's not a drama yet as Glenny is sharing. He is very uninterested in the kitchen so maybe that's my room when he stops sharing...

Spartz is loving having a carport, he says it's better than a gge cos he can still see what is going on, and I'm nice enough to back him in so he can stand guard, or just be nosey hehe.

It also turns out that I'm rather good at pottering, it's amazing how long I can spend doing stuff which is not really productive but also not really lazy as such, must have learnt from dof hehe.

In case you thinking that I'm just listing things that have changed, some of the same things is that Glenny is still a pillow hog, The Sound is still the best radio station, and of course I still love purple, duh on that one lol

A-Z of me

So decided that it was about time I did a A-Z of me. Each letter had to be one or two words max, yup I made rules haha.
So here goes 😊

Awesome
Bookworm
Creative
Dorta
Explorer
Friend
Glenny's mum
Home owner*
Inglewoodite
Jilly Bean
Kiwi
Lil sis
Missie's photographer
NRL Panthers
Optimist
Purple
Quirky
Relaxed
Spartz's bill-payer
Talker
Unique
Very awesome
Weird-ish
Xtraordinary (hehe)
Youthful
Zany

*ok so this one is a soon-to-be not a right now but figure it's close enough, less than two weeks and all hehe 😀
Ps for those that don't know already I've bought a place (a 2bdrm unit) in Hastings, move in on Friday 13th, am very excited.

Taupo wknd away

So in the wknd me, Bro, Dad, Mum, Glenny, Fishy, Missie and Smyly all went to Taupo to chill and catch up.  I think Missie and Smyly had the most to catch up on cos they seem to be the busiest of the lot of us and also as far as I know don't text or ring each other to chat inbtwn meet-ups.  Glenny and Fishy argue that they are also very busy and me being me just let them believe this cos humouring them is more fun than not most the time :)

Laura and Ted came over on the Saturday to chill with us all too which was awesome.  Cant say we did much other than chat and eat but it was still a cool as wknd.

Bro and I met up first just out of Taupo to do the Opepe Walking Tracks, they were quite nice, nothing amazing but still a good place for a stroll with the odd photo, and as good a place as any to chat.  We then headed to Taupo and went shopping, spent loads at the CD store but it was an impt spend cos CDs are essentials.  We kindly took mum and dad there in the afternoon and also went back on Sunday, just cos.

We (mum, dad, bro and me) had lunch at The Deck, where I had an amazing GF Burger and we went back on Sunday to get dessert before dinner cos they had GF donuts and these were also amazing!!!  Then Laura and Ted arrived and we all hung out and just chilled till dinner, we had Indian, then after dinner there was more chilling and more talking hehe.

Sunday was much the same but without Laura and Ted and with a lil bit of reading thrown in.  All in all it was a good wknd :)

Opepe Track

the tiny as cemetery, there is one more headstone in the trees

Missie chilling at the base of a big tree

the top part of the big tree 

me and Missie in a cool coloured tree

working hard (cough cough) at the pit saw

just a cool pic

short pause for a photo and proof it was the Opepe Track lol

Just having fun in Taupo with Laura and Ted hehe