Long wknd happenings

Well last wknd was a extra long wknd for me, living in Hawke’s Bay we get our anniversary stat the Friday before Labour Day so it’s a 4 day wknd.  When I first moved here I thought that was a bit rubbish as we missed out on a 3 day wknd at some other stage of the year, however now I have been here for a few years it turns out I really like it this way and don’t see why more places didn’t do it lol.

Dad came over this time, to build me a pantry and also to hang out (and of course do other odd jobs that I had found for him to do… hehe).  I think he has done an amazing job with the pantry and it looks super cool.  Like any good creator though he can spot the mistakes and not quite right bits lol.  Good thing I am the one that lives there not him aint it :) hehe.

I also got a fridge off a workmate, turns out procrastinating does pay off.  I was looking at fridge/freezers at work one day thinking I didn’t really want to get one but I really should (have been thinking that for over a year now) and one of my workmates noticed and asked why, when I said I needed to buy one cos mine was on its last legs he said they had a spare they were looking at selling and would I like to buy it.  So a not as expensive as expected fridge/freezer became mine woot woot.  My kitchen is now looking better than ever.  Some stage I will improve the rest of it but that is going to be the expensive bit so it might be down the track some stage.  Plus I don’t know what colour I want to paint it so it can wait lol.

Dad and I also went for a bush walk while he was here.  I had seen a sign for it when I went for my random drive the other week, and decided that I needed to not go alone cos it was not on a highly used road/area.  Boy was I right on the not highly used bit, we basically drove to the middle of nowhere then turned right and drove some more before finally reaching our destination.  It was the Mohi Bush Reserve and it was a very nice walk.  Took the time it said on the sign (well the first sign which said 1hr, the next sign said 1.5hrs which was weird lol) and we made friends with the cows and some sheep along the way.  Not a super flat walk, well in some places it was flat and in others it really wasn’t lol.  There were two walk options and we did choose the longer one, the shorter walk was 30mins I think the sign said.

All in all it was a very good wknd I think :) though 4 days is almost one to many when it comes to getting up for work on Tuesday morning and your brain goes ‘but I’m on holiday, what are you doing!!!’.  I am a survivor though so have managed to get up for work all 3 days this work week so far, one more to go….

My cool new pantry

Mohi Bush Reserve

Yes we both climbed the stile.... hehe

Pretty mossy ground

Maraetotara Waterfall Walk, which we did on our way back to Hastings (very very short, but pretty)

Pics from around campus

So, been meaning to put this up for a week or so now, but as you probably know already I am pretty good at the whole oh I’ll do it later or tomorrow or whatever thing, which is why it hasn’t been put up lol.

Anyhow, not much new stuff to say and this post is more a pic one anyhow.  A work related pic one at that, fun right hehe.  As I have been wandering round campus I have been seeing these cool painted rocks, no idea where they are coming from but I do like them.  I have taken photos of some of my favs and thought I would share them with you.

I also found this random but awesome little walkway on Friday when I was going to R Block, would never have known it was there if I had gone the way I normally go, but one of my workmates said there was a quicker way, and they were right :) not only quicker but way prettier as well.  Total win I say.

Last couple of wknds

Last wknd Mum came to visit, partly cos she could and partly cos I was getting a heat pump installed on Monday (yes I'm all grown up now and have a heat pump, and yes I used it one night this week when it was cold, for about an hour then I went back the the traditional blanket and hot water bottle lol).  While she was here we did a bit of exploring and sight seeing and a whole lot of chilling :) Can't really remember what we did each day but we went to a quiz at Theatre HB (and didn't come last), went and said hello to the Womens Institute statue in Napier, wandered round White Pine Bush and caught up with some of my friends and of course went to Jarks munch munch yum yum hehe.

This wknd Glenny and I went for a drive ystdy morning, to nowhere in particular, we just found a road and followed it.  Turns out it goes to Waimarama or Ocean Beach, depending on which fork you take, I took the Waimarama one.  There also looks like there is a DOC walk that way so someone will prob end up being my buddy when I go check it out (being female and it's the middle of nowhere I think its best I take a buddy when I go, atlst the first time).  It was a awesome drive with some great scenery and awesome windy parts, we all (Glenny, Cleo and me) enjoyed it a lot.

Ystdy evening Jenny came round for a movie night, and I cooked dinner.  It was very simple but yummy nachos nom nom.  And we ended up watching 2 movies, we were gonna watch one but when we finished it we wanted to watch another so we did, score for being grown ups with no bedtimes lol.

Also did a bunch a chores this wknd, the downside to being a grown up (lol).  Mowed me lawns, sprayed the weeds, did some baking, and some cooking food for this coming week, and caught up on washing (mostly).  Also did some fun stuff like finishing my book, and finishing a TV series I was watching so it was a good wknd all round really :)

WI statue, can't member her name but we had a good catch up hehe

Wandering round White Pine Bush

Waimarama

Lookout spot on the way from (and to) Waimarama, it looked better in person, just saying... lol

Mt Erin Lookout, randomly found this and had to take a photo for my friend Erin lol

It's funny....

It's funny how having a bit of a disposable income can make such a big difference for small things.  When I first moved into my place I didn't really have any disposable income, especially for luxury things like decorating rooms etc.  So I got some curtains for the bdrm from Mum and Dad, those dark-ish red ones, and while I was in the bigger room I tolerated them.  Never loved them but didn't exactly hate them either.  Then I moved to the smaller of the two rooms and the red curtains were not so much of a concern.  Still can't say I loved them but since I wasn't in there much it was all good.  Then last wknd Bro and I swapped the rooms over and I am now back in the bigger room, and by Tuesday I was already over the red curtains, they are icky and just wrong.  So on Friday I went home via Spotlight to get some new ones.  Why wait till Friday you ask, well it was the first night I had a chance to get there lol.  

I think the reason that I didn't hate the curtains at the start was that I couldn't afford to get new ones, even if I wanted too, but now I do so they had to go.  Now the curtains aren't quite the colour that I was aiming for, but they are still way better than red.  I was hoping for a mid-grey shade but the ones that were that shade were too long or too short for what I wanted so I have gone with dark dark grey (or maybe black, depends on the light lol) as they were the right length :) and they are so much better than what was there.

Now some of you may know that I was going to make that room a red/orange/brown-ish kinda room, haha yeah that aint gonna happen.  I don't dislike the colour red but it turns out I really don't like it as a room colour, so the colour scheme is going to change.  I have ideas and thoughts about what I might do but I am not gonna share just yet as the plans and ideas might change before it gets painted.  Am sure I will share the finished room with you all though, cos it will look cool whatever colours I choose :) and don't worry Bro and Dad, Jenny is gonna help me paint it so you two are being spared that task lol.

Am still alive, maybe not sane though....

So thought I would let you all know that I am all good and that I survived the latest lockdown.  Somehow it seemed as long as the first which was weird, and it was definitely not as fun as the first one, maybe cos it was no longer a novel experience or maybe cos work was different and less flexible.  I started at EIT the week before we went into lockdown, so have now done more days of my job from home than I have from campus (but this shall be corrected now we are in level 2, yay).  Work was not as flexible as Radio Kidnappers was as am in the Help Desk so there were phones and emails to man and keep an eye on, and we kept our standard hours.  However unlike Kidnappers I was done for the day at finishing time and so didn’t work in the evenings or wknds.

I was going to post during lockdown but then just kept thinking ‘oh I will do it at the end, this wont last long’, but it did last long-ish.  And I am also good at procrastinating so that is another reason why it never got done lol.

Shall do a bit of an update for you all.  Some of you will know bits of the following, some won’t, some might have forgotten.  So feel free to skim bits if you already know it or just cant be bothered reading it.

I am now working at EIT (Eastern Institute of Technology).  It is the Hawke’s Bay polytechnic, and has two main campuses, the main one is in Taradale in Napier which is where I work and the other is in Gisborne (Tairawhiti campus).  There are also some smaller campuses in Hastings, Central HB and Auckland.  I work in the IT Support Team, aka the IT Help Desk.  It is a team of 7 (this includes our team leader and intern).  It’s a pretty good team, has its work hard moments and also the joke around have some fun moments, which all teams should have I think.  Seems like it is going to be a good place to work, which is cool.  You never really know when you interview what it is actually going to be like working somewhere.

Crafting wise I have finished a couple of projects, am pondering on one and started some new ones.  I finally finished the scarf that I started, oh probably about 3 winters ago…. It looks pretty cool, and is nice and snug.  I bleached a pair of jeans that I bought cos I liked the fit of them and hoped I would grow to like the dark blue colour, turns out I didn’t so I decided to bleach them over lockdown.  Was an interesting afternoon’s worth of activity and now the jeans look real cool so I’m super happy.  They are a bit patterned from the bits that bleached less than others but I think it looks cool.  I have also crocheted a hat twice, and unpicked it twice…. It just isn’t working out how I want it too, or its me not suiting the style I am trying to do, so it has now been put aside while I ponder it some more.  I found my french knitting spool thing while sorting out my craft desk during lockdown so am doing a something with that as well, its going to be purple and hopefully a hat, time will tell on whether this hat works out or not.  I also finished my poncho that I made last winter, and was mostly happy with it but it just needed a bit of tweaking, so I did the tweaking and its now much better, the tweaking was adding a collar lol.  I have a couple of sewing projects waiting for me to bring my sewing machine back out and another crochet project waiting for me to start it, I am just finalising that one in my head first lol.

Last post as a 35 year old...

So as we all know my birthday is never just a one day event... cos that would be small and boring lol.  This year it has been a just over a week event, I mean you only turn 36 once so why not :)

On Sunday last week Bro and I headed off on our mini road trip (just a one nighter).  We headed down to Pukaha Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre as our first stop.  Now this place was nice enough, but not quite worth the entrance fee that they charge I don't think.  Was $22 each, and while we enjoyed ourselves it wasn't quite what we were expecting.  A lot of the enclosures were built so well for the birds that we couldn't spot them, maybe we should have stayed longer looking for them but that is not who we are.  We did see the signpost for the lookout so we decided to head that way, both pretty sure the sign said 1.5km.  We were wrong, the sign did not say that.  And there was so much up, and then more up.  And then we found a sign that said 500m to go, and that was wrong too.  Am absolutely positive that we walked way longer than 500m before the lookout was gotten too.  As Bro had headed off in front I actually began to think I had missed a turn off somewhere and that he was sitting there laughing at me, but then I kept going up so I wasn't sure.  Turns out the lookout was pretty obvious, so phew on that.  But the view was only so-so... And the sign post at the top said that the track was 4.5km in total so somehow we both had misread the sign at the bottom.  After our wanderings we headed to the cafe to grab a drink and something to eat, well Bro did, they didn't appear to have any gf stuff and I wasn't in the mood to ask so I didn't.

After Pukaha we headed to Palmerston North for the night and my 'first' bday dinner :) yum yum.  We tried a few of the cocktails at Lonestar and I think I had the better ones to the one Bro had, but that was luck as much as anything lol.

On Monday we headed to Waiouru Army Museum, which was really cool.  Bit miserable weather wise but once we were inside it didn't really matter.  They had some very good displays, and lots of info for those people who aren't like me and actually like reading all that stuff lol.  After wandering around the museum we checked out the Mess Tent, aka the cafe.  I was in the mood to ask what was gf and got the loaded fries cos they sounded pretty good, Bro decided he would steal a few so got him cutlery as well.  When the plate arrived decided he could have way more than a few cos it was huge, and once we tried them we dug in quite enthusiastically, boy were they yum yum yummy :)

After eating as much as we could, plus a little bit more, we headed to Taupo to catch up with Mum and Dad and hit the cd store.  Then we headed back to mine :)

Rest of the week was pretty much a pleasant week off.  Bro headed home on Tuesday, Wednesday I lost myself in a book for the whole day, Thursday I met what is going to be my new team at EIT and then I hung out with Steph and an awfully grizzly George (her toddler who decided he didn't need a nap, he totally did), Friday met up with a friend for coffee, then went to 3 Wise Birds (a local cidery) to read in the sun, then Briar came round for dinner and a movie night.  Ystdy I had a haircut, then I helped with set build for our next production, then Steph and Jenny and I went out for my 'second' bday dinner at Jarks and I got a complimentary bday brownie for dessert nom nom nom, then we went to Aubyn Live to see The Jailhouse Frocks which my friend Sarah was in.  A very good day and night :)

Today I have been chilling and doing chores, and this evening am playing D&D with some friends.  Tomorrow, my actual birthday, Mum and Dad are coming over and we are going to have lunch (probably at Jarks cos why not hehe), then for dinner Viv and Jenny will be joining us and we will be having cake and whatever I decide is for dinner.  The cake is going to have 36 candles on it, cos I can :D

Pukaha Mt Bruce Wildlife Centre

The view from the lookout 

Waiouru Army Museum

Me escaping from the prison camp lol

Oh yeah, Bro painted my wardrobe for me as well when he was here :)

Went to Peka Peka Wetlands the other day, its boring as but super pretty

Thanks Jarks xxx

A celebration wknd

This wknd Jenny and I went to Whanganui to celebrate a few things.  Originally we were going because we were celebrating me finishing the study I did in the first trimester (got an A- for those of you wondering) and Jenny finishing being Production Secretary for Assassins.  But as we are so talented at celebrating we kept adding reasons to celebrate to the wknd.  Some of them were proper reasons, like me getting a new job (yup I'm leaving Radio Kidnappers and will be moving to EIT which is our polytechnic and I will be working in the IT Support Team there), and some were random as reasons like finally remembering to watch Hamilton (it's a movie that has been made from a stage production and we both agreed it was far too overrated and a waste of 2hrs and 40mins which felt soooooooooooo much longer than that).

As well as celebrating we also explored as Jenny can't ever remembering going to Whanganui, and here are some photos we took (yes it was iffy weather but we were brave and risked melting just for these photos.... lol)

Notes: The cool as jacket I'm wearing is my bday pressie to myself, I asked myself if I could open it early and I was super kind and said yup hehe. Also the last photo is a cool dual coloured aeroplane I found in my pack of them :) thanks Rainbow Confectionary for the super cool yumness