Week one done and dusted

I not only survived but enjoyed the first week in my new role (yay).  It is always a bit of a did I make the right call kinda thing when you start a new job I think, and even more so when you are moving somewhere new for it.  But not only did I survive, but I also had an overall great time and think I am very much going to enjoy working there.

For those of you who don't know, my new role is Exec Management EA at Ngaruahine Iwi Health Services.  I know, it sounds flash as aye hehe.  Starting along with me was the rest of the exec team, except the GM, he is the one consistent.  The organisation had been through a restructure and from that had created and recruited to an Executive Leadership Team (ELT).  There are 6 of us in total, and yes I am part of the exec team.  I know, surprising to me too.  First organisation I think I’ve ever been in where the EA is considered part of the team, not just the admin for it and reporting to someone else.

My first day was Tuesday (Monday was part of the Easter long weekend) and it started with a powhiri, then a morning tea with the rest of the staff (well the staff that were there, there is a lot of out and about for most of the staff.  It’s a very community focused organisation), then we did the IT onboarding side of things.  After lunch we started what we would be doing for the next couple of days, which was the exec team getting together to get to know each other, learn more about the organisation and make a plan for going forward.  Today was a relaxed ease into your role day, and it really was a very relaxed day.  We got shown around the different Ngaruahine Iwi Health Services sites in Manaia, there are three.  I also went along to the Yarrows Bakery shop, so glad I am gluten free else I think I would be spending a lot of money there lol.  We also got time to chat with some of the other staff and I have already been told I should not be allowed to sit next to about 3 people cos they think we will be trouble lol.  See why I like it so much already :) and then there was time to sort out our laptops and work phones, so mine are now all coloured to make me happy (ie purple hehe).

Normally I am going to be based in Manaia, but Wed and Thu we were in Hawera at a local restaurant.  I was nervous about the catering side of things, cos you know I’m not the easiest to feed at times… lol.  But they totally nailed it.  Not only did I get more than just fruit, or plain rice, but I got tasty meals which were full of flavour.  And they even went and got some gf bread so they could make me sandwiches like the others got for one of the snack meals.  Definitely ate too much though, but I couldn’t send food back in case they thought I didn’t like it (plus it was so yummy that I wanted to eat it all hehe).

Some of the smaller yays of the new role, but still very impt yays, are that my desk is one that I can have as a sitting or standing desk.  Car parking is easy as, just round the back of the office (though lets be honest Manaia is not very big so its not like walking would take long if I had to park further away lol).  The toilet paper is 3ply (any of you govt or local govt workers will know how amazing that is).  

All in all it has been a great week, though I am looking forward to a nice relaxed chilled weekend now.  Just me and the two cats that Aunty Susan is looking after… who are not at all demanding dinner while I have been typing this, not at all… lol.

Goodbye Hawke's Bay - Hello Taranaki (again)

I have officially left Hastings, and am now back to living in Inglewood.  I drove over yesterday/today with a stop over at Mum and Dads last night.  It's nice to split the trip, cos it is a long one, plus I needed some warmer clothes and they were already at mum and dads lol.  I am happily all unpacked now, the cats have been fed and like typical cats I have not seen them since feeding them dinner.  (For those that don't know I am staying with Susan, a long time family friend, while I get my unit sold and find a new place to call my own.  Susan is fostering two cats, and she is currently in Australia so it is up to me to keep these two cats fed and alive for a couple weeks... 😶 and yes Susan is Aunty Susan but as I don't need an adoptive Aunty anymore, rumour has it I'm all grown up now, thought I'd give calling her just Susan a go 😊 lol).  Anyhow, I thought I would sum up my time in Hawke's Bay somehow.  Cos it was quite a while that I was there, the longest time I've lived anywhere since leaving home to go to uni way back when.  And as you likely know I like numbers so here is my time in Hawke's Bay in numbers 😄 

8 yrs 1.5 months - total time lived here

1st home bought (and now on the market to hopefully be sold)

4x places of work, 5x different roles

4x Art Deco’s attended

1x props room needing sorting that lead to a wonderful and strong friendship

0x props rooms actually sorted (lol)

4x book groups joined and regularly attended (each for a while at least)

3x local theatres joined

2x major health setbacks

2x major health setbacks overcome

11x tattoos (give or take… lol)

Things I have not been able to accurately count (for different reasons):

Amazing friends

Book events/launches attended

Authors met

Theatre shows taken part in, either back stage or front of house

Winery sessions - hanging with friends or reading a book on my own

Visits to The Figgery (I did buy myself a The Figgery t-shirt before leaving, it was a must really)

Dinners cooked by Namaskar

Kilometres run

New to me music discovered (some is new music, some is old music I didn’t realise I loved)

Dance parties held in my lounge (Glenny can confirm my dancing has not improved, not even a little bit, but my enthusiasm has never wavered lol)

Radio shows produced/part of

Hairstyles and hair colours

People are weird

I know the title of this post is no surprise, people are weird, we all know that lol.  But in this particular instance I am talking about them being weird in the way they are commenting about me losing weight.  And I just thought I would put it on here as it might help someone else down the track, some day, eventually.

I have been running pretty consistently since September-ish (thanks acupuncture), and a happy byproduct of that is that I am losing the weight I put on when I couldn't do any exercise at all (boo chronic fatigue crash).  I am running for me, cos I like it and it makes me happy (not always in the moment I am running, sometimes I just think I am crazy to chose to do that lol.  But I am always happy at the end and at some point during the run), but returning to pretty much my normal/standard weight has been a wonderful perk.

People are weird comes into this equation because the following seems to be happening with those who have commented on it:
Those over around 55 have been very wow good on you losing weight.
Those under around 35 have been concerned that I am losing weight.
Only those who are around my age(ish) have asked if it is intentional and if I am happy/ok.

Now I am sure everyone is happy for me and/or thinking of my wellbeing, but from the receiving end I do much prefer the people who are asking if I am happy/ok before being excited/concerned.  Not just assuming it's a good or bad thing.  It's such a small, and it's not like I am mad at those who are commenting straight off, but if you know someone who is losing or gaining weight maybe ask them first before reacting 😊

And that is just my little note for the day, I hope you are all having a good week 💜

Homeward Bound

To some of you this might come completely out of the blue, others of you it won't...

I am moving home 😀🎉 home being Taranaki for those of you who are not sure where I call home these days.  And to be fair I call a few places home at the moment so if you weren't thinking Taranaki straight away you are forgiven.  Anyhoo... I have got a job in South Taranaki which I will be starting on Tuesday 7th April so I will be moving back over Easter weekend.  And before you ask where am I going to live, I don't 100% know yet.  I know where I am thinking of looking once I sell this place, but I am also aware I do like to change my mind so there is a chance I will end up somewhere else lol.

The job is being an EA to a general manager, and helping the executive team a bit as well, its at a iwi run health centre.  I think it will be a fun job, and the people that I have met, over Teams for a video interview and via email chats, are lovely.  I am very much looking forward to the move and the new adventure.

Got a few things to do here now of course, like figure out the whole listing a house for sale side of things, packing, catching up with friends for the last time while I'm here etc.  I am sure it will keep me busy and before I know it, it'll be time to move.  I will be sad to leave my current job as I really do like it, but it is time for me to leave HB so I am ok with it.

Not much else to report at this stage so shan't keep you any longer, just wanted to share my happy news really.  Have a wonderful day 💜

Napier sunset

Sharing this photo cos I feel it would be rude not too, Napier sunset from Ahuriri this evening, looking all gorgeous 😻😻

Had a lovely dinner at The Gin Trap with Aunty Kay and Uncle Terry who are camping in my driving for the night (in their caravan so fancy camping lol). Was a lovely evening catching up and just general chatting. Went for a wander after dinner and this was our wonderful view 💜

Recycled awesomeness

Made myself a nice warm awesome as jacket for winter 🥰😻💜 fully recycled too which is cool.

The grey fabric is my old girl guide blanket, the blue is an old blanket from Jenny. Both woollen blankets.

The lining is an old duvet cover that I’ve had for years but don’t use anymore.

The cotton was from Gma’s stash.

And the buttons were a nice surprise from my boss Michelle. She loaned me her button collection when I mentioned I didn’t have any suitable ones and really didn’t want to buy ones cos was able to not pay for anything else for the jacket. She’s a cool boss 🤗

Now just need the weather to cool so I can wear it lol 😻🤩😂

Rotorua as a tourist

Last weekend Jenny and I went to Rotorua to be tourists.  I know, it was a bit of a weird experience for me because I am so used to going there to see Bro.  Don't worry we did call in to see him so I could show Jenny his place.  Did I give him a say in the matter, nope but I did let him know roughly when we would be going past so he could be out if he wanted to avoid us lol.  Pretty sure that is a kind little sister thing to do 😇😆

As I have been to Vegas many more times than Jenny, I was left to plan what to do.  Jenny wanted to do a maze which was good cos so did I, but other than that she left it to me.

First off we did the walk around part of the lake from Government Gardens to the Lake Front.  Very enjoyable and a nice little wander.  Then we headed off to the 3D maze, we picked that one because it is my favourite.  Also because the other one is a hedge one and with how much of nature is making me react in a not great way these days we thought it would be best to not have me stuck in a hedge for an hour or so.  The 3D maze was a lot of fun.  We did get lost a couple times, perk to being tall(ish) is being able to see over some of the walls on the upstairs parts so I could work out where we needed to go to get back on track.  We completed the maze, and found most the answers to the scavenger hunt properly (one was found by me looking over the wall lol), and had a great time.

We then headed back to our accommodation for lunch and to rest our tired legs.  In the afternoon we went to a cat cafe.  I do NOT recommend this experience.  I don't know what I was expecting but it was not what I got and I just felt sorry for the poor cats.  There were so many of them in the small space and no outdoor area.  Not even very many interactive things for them.  Jenny said it wasn't a good one, but that they are all pretty similar with the no outdoor area and lots of cats.  Definitely not something I support.

That evening we had dinner at our accommodation (same as the first night we were there, we were doing Rotorua on the cheap lol), watched a movie then had a dip in the hot tub/spa.  Many laughs were had and it topped off a great day.

The following morning, our last morning there, we detoured to find Fred a tyre cos she had had a something (I don't want to call it an accident or incident, but it was a something) at some point that required me giving her attention and money.  Typical female I know... 😜 After this we headed off to a 3D trick art gallery.  I wasn't sure what I expected from this but it looked intriguing online so we figured why not (it was also raining so we didn't want to do anything outdoorsy lol).  While we were wandering around I must admit I thought it was a bit lame and not worth the entry fee.  However once I got home and looked at the photos I changed my mind, it was totally worth it!!! The photos turned out awesome.  Everything was just 2D when we were there, but the photos are not.  Very cool.  Below are some of my favs. 

Overall I would recommend Rotorua as a tourist, however most of the activities are quite expensive now.  We wanted to do things that were below $30 and we achieved this, but it did take many many things off the table.  Doesn't mean I won't be back to do them some stage though 😊

2025 in books

It's that time of year again, that time that I sum up the last year by what I read lol.  I mean it's basically tradition now lol.

This year I knew I wasn't going to get a max amount of books read in the year because I ended up reading both Gone With The Winds and Ulysses.  And neither of them are small books.  Ulysses was a harder read than I expected so it took me about 4 weeks I think, Gone With The Wind was very enjoyable and I will be reading that again at some stage.  Took me about 3 weeks from memory to get that one done.  And yes while reading both I did have another book on the go, usually do these days.  Sometimes I am only reading one book but it would be less often than the reading two or three at a time.

Anyhow, here is the summary:

Total books read: 68

Total pages read: 26,287

Shortest book: 106 pages (thank god cos it was terrible lol)

Longest book: Gone With The Wind (no surprises there)

Average book length: 386 pages

Surprisingly, the book I read that the most other people also did (on the site I use anyhow) was Gone With The Wind, that one surprised me a lot.

Also surprisingly the book with the highest rating on the site was a WWII book - The Forgotten Highlander.  Didn't expect that, it has an average rating of 4.53 (I gave it a 4 if you are wondering).

Genres of books I read are as follows:

Fantasy - 38 books (no surprise its still well above the others)

Sci-Fi - 2

Fiction - 5

Chick-Lit - 12

Crime/Thriller - 3

Non-Fiction - 7

Other - 1 (horror if you were wondering)