FYI, it's my birthday soon.

I just like to remind people of that fact, because my birthday is on the 28th, and everyone - EVERYONE - says, oh that must suck. So close to Christmas! Yes it does suck, because people are shopped out and have a thousand things on, and therefore usually completely forget about my birthday. My own father once played a round of golf on my birthday and forgot to call me. WTF! He called the next day. To be honest, I hadn't noticed that he didn't call, but I still made him feel reallllly guilty. I'm awesome like that.

So because I am selfish and all-about-me, I remind everyone I've ever met about my birthday a long time in advance. You're also not allowed to combine Xmas and Birthday in one present. That's just lazy. Yes, greedy, selfish, rude, I am all these things. But I am also very cuddly.

So I have 2 more days of work left. This last week, if I had to pick one movie title to sum up the mood in the office, I would pick "Kill Bill" in which "Bill" stands for "Everyone in the Entire Office."
Everyone's trying to get things done that should have been done in September, and because we have an enormous long break - 19 DAYS - we're trying to figure out how we can hit the ground running when we get back. When really, all we want to do is listen to carols and eat chocolate and buy last minute presents online.

I have a bit of an escape that I use when the office tension is so thick you could drown in it and the hairs on your arms stand up. Voices, printer, phones, people screaming at each other, idiots giggling over cat pictures (okay that's me) - it all fades away when you listen to this:

http://www.soundsleeping.com/

Birdies chirping, ocean waves, and a gurgling stream. Yes it's very new-agey, but man alive I can feel all the tension leave my shoulders when listening to it. Similar to a white noise machine I guess.



This is my sister's Christmas card this year showing my 2 beautiful nieces and their brand new playhouse. My sister made the bunting and also appliqued the girls clothes. My mother is hugely impressed, as she prides herself on "not being able to sew on a button" which is a lie, because I've seen her do it many times, but I think she was rebelling against her own mother who was a total genius when it came to making our clothes. Although, because Nana was a chain smoker, when the parcel of clothes arrived, Mum would have to open it outside, then wash all the clothes before we could try them on, because they reeked of Rothmans. Funny huh?

Tonight my friend is hosting a BBQ on the deck of her apartment that overlooks the Harbour here in Auckland. We're bringing a green salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, green capsicum and feta cheese (Rich - feta isn't green! Me - no-one is marking us out of ten for salads). We're taking a bottle of bubbly and looking forward to a nice relaxing night of getting smashed and singing to 80's tunes. Tomorrow - beach, book (reading The Dome by Stephen King - not as good as the Stand but it'll do) and naps in the sun. God I love summer.

PS birthday in 10 days.