Catch up

So today I am still recovering from a very busy weekend – with the added issue of the clocks going forward an hour meaning I am very snoozy this week.

The housewarming went really really well – please see my pics on Facebook – my stupid computer won’t let me upload them to here. I got home early on Friday and cleaned the house till 11:30 at night. It looked IMMACULATE. I was very proud. Of course, ten minutes into the party there were chips and bottles and glass rings and tomato sauce handprints on everything, but not being a Monica, it didn’t bother me. What did bother me was that it was Tuesday night before I could be bothered cleaning it up, after the house had acquired an interesting aroma of stale beer and chop fat. Tut tut my mother says.
So we had lots of beers and wines and sausages, and the back yard got an enthusiastic cricket work out. Lots of people brought their kids so it was a nice family day.

THEN later on the baby-free ones headed into town, where we went to a pub quiz. Our team was definitely the most annoying, and loudest, and drunkest, but still we won. It was weird. I think we were at that stage where you’re supremely confident about everything you do. No wonder people think they’re alright to drive – I probably would have sworn I had the skills to land a plane. However, I remembered that dyspepsia was heartburn, and that Johann Strauss wrote the Blue Danube, and we won. First prize though, was 4 of the most hideous wooden statues I have ever seen – you know like those Indonesian god statues? They also had a mop of red plastic hair – like Red from Fraggle Rock - to add to their aesthetic. Whatever happened to a bar tab I say – anyway we left them there and no doubt some eejit took them home to make their garden look even worse, right next to the plastic flamingoes. If you’re saying, hey, I have some of those statues, please, take my advice and burn them, they’re awful.

After the pub quiz it was all about drinking as much as we could so we went and partied in Tauranga till 2am. It was fun! Not so fun was waking up the next day, realising I was still drunk, and waiting in fear for the hangover to kick in (right around 1pm).

So that was my weekend – good times indeed – and another enormous weekend on the way with the Kelt Capital Races in Hastings on. I just went and bought a fascinator to wear with my LBD and yellow shoes, and some new bright red polish from Creative (Wild Fire, if you’re interested). We’re heading to a very posh tent where the bubbles are free and the horses beautiful, and I am guaranteed to lose at least $50 on the betting, but I know I’ll have a super duper day. Normally I would catch up with my parents at the same time, but at this moment in time they are swanning around Europe on their way to the Rugby World Cup final, which the All Blacks will be in, and win. My step-dad is a rugby fanatic (hey, he’s male and a Kiwi) so it’ll be a trip of a lifetime for him.

Anyhoodle – off to have a coffee with my sister and Amelie – see you next week with pics of the horses and hot guys in suits!

Aims

8 random things!

This is my first ever meme. It was Jen who took my meme virginity, and while I am not too sure of the protocol of the thing, I would like to thank her and hope she calls in the morning. So 8 random things about me…..here we go.

1.......I used to be a fully qualified beauty therapist, and worked as one for two years until RSI in my hands from too much massaging made me quit. Also the low low pay in NZ and Aus wasn’t great. But my god it’s a fun job…playing with potions and pretty things….always smelling nice…..making people feel good. The other great thing was the peace and serenity of the work place – lots of dim lighting and Enya music….although quite a difference out the back where we prepared everything and screamed at each other for not having cleaned the treatment room out or for running over time…oh the joy! If I was a squillionaire I would probably look at opening my own clinic, or beauty store…but I am not, so propellor head it is.

2.........I like hot ring cinnamon donuts with Wattie’s tomato sauce. I discovered this culinary gem purely by accident. Ordering fish and chips in the old days meant you got everything all in a square of newspaper (this is being slowly phased out in place of stupid cardboard boxes, sob sob) and so my usual order of a hotdog, donut and chips would be all squished in with my sister’s fish and Mum’s battered oysters. Once open, you’d spray tomato sauce like it was a fire hose and dive in. I must have squirted my donut by accident and, being the starving child I was, eaten it anyway. I tell you, it’s a really good combination. Try it!

3......My sister taught me to read before I started school….where on my first day apparently I was dragged out the door by my teacher, who to my eyes was approximately the size of a large whale, and presented to my waiting mother with the statement “she can READ!” I tell you there’s no genius in this – just a fact that as my sister was reading to Mum, no doubt I was hanging around trying to get the centre of attention back… and just learnt as she did. Much like Scout Finch learning to read over Atticus’s shoulder. It meant that for the first 2 years of school I was left to do my own thing (usually stapling my thumb or covering my entire arm in black paint – that was a memorable telling off from Miss McLaren) while the rest of the class caught up….and also meant that I was incurably lazy and detested authority for the rest of my schooling life.

4........I used to be utterly obsessed with Queen. Not Queen Liz, but the Freddie Mercury Queen. I was about 12, and had a crush on a poor boy at school who hadn’t hit puberty yet (I’d got that milestone over with at 10). Anyhoo the news was on and it showed Freddie’s funeral. I was all, hey! The drummer from Queen (Roger Taylor) looks like this boy! And so it began…. The collection of tapes, posters, joining of fan clubs, letters to the fan club, t-shirts. I even baked Roger Taylor a birthday cake and took it to school. I don’t do obsession by halves. Anyhoo I can now recite pretty much all Queen lyrics and know the entire history of the band. Test me if you like. It all came to a halt when I hit 15 and started going out with this guy who was like, totally into grunge, dude. Suddenly it was all about the Afghan Whigs (??!!!) and Pearl Jam. I’m a follower, not a leader. Although I am happy to say I introduced Oasis and the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack to my sixth form class.

5......I was told when I was about 11, that I would grow to be 5’8”. I am 5’1”. The urge to sue the doctor who told me this has never entirely gone away. In fact, when he told me this, I think I stopped growing. As previously mentioned, I developed early (it’s fun wearing a bra when you’re 10!) and was among the tallest in my class when I started high school….but then I stopped. And watched my skin and body go hey, since we’re no longer going upwards, we’ll go outwards! Seriously, if I grew 5 inches, I’d be slender. Don’t you love that word? Slender.

6.......I am lefthanded, and my handwriting is appalling. To quote Claree from Steel Mags, I have the handwriting of a serial killer. I thank god for the invention of the keyboard. I get really embarrassed writing notes in a meeting because it looks like a drunk child got hold of my pen. However, my lefthandedness has given me a killer backhand in tennis, and it made me the centre of attention in my Psychology labs at Uni when we were testing brain stuff. I disproved the theory however, that lefties look at things differently than righties. Or maybe I just wasn’t concentrating because this Psych Lab was cutting into my cigarettes/cups of tea/oprah-sallyjesseraphael-rickylake time.

7.......Today I am wearing a long sleeve white top, with a black shift dress over the top, and brown knee high boots. I think the boots will be retired soon as spring gets into gear and it’ll be all about the peep toe heels. I also dyed my hair last night, and am now sporting Garnier Nutrisse Tamarind. It was the first time I dyed my hair thinking, not only will this make my hair really shiny, but will cover those rogue greys. And this made me sad.

8.......This one time, I won a competition, the first (and last) I have ever won. What had happened was, Care Bears had just been re-released, so I bought 2 little ones and sent them to my childhood buddies. I went into the draw to win 7 full size ones. A few days later, the phone call confirms that I am now the proud owner of 7 Care Bears from Lambton Quay Toyworld, would I like to come and collect. So I did, and there’s nothing better to start a conversation than to walk along the main street in Wellington and get the bus home carrying 7 soft toys. The smiles you get! Anyhoo, what to do with them you say. At the time my Mother was volunteering as a Budget Advisor for some families in Napier whose priorities were a little up the whack, as in, hey, here’s my beneficiary payment for the month – alcohol and the horses, or furniture to sit on? She came home one day with a story about a wee boy who had been given a comic book and a marshmallow Santa for Christmas. This made me feel guilty at the amount of presents I had received as a child, and no doubt boasted about when I got back to school, thereby creating resentment from the children who did not have what I did. So when I had these Care Bears spare, instead of giving them to children that I knew and loved (my neice was only 2 at the time) I gave them to the Christmas Drive that the Budget Advisory service organised. The kids I knew would have got ninety presents that Christmas…but I hoped that one small kid got a brand new Care Bear along with his marshmallow Santa.

The End. I can rant can’t I?

I grudgingly take it back...

Feeling somewhat sheepish after that rant, I am sitting here posting this from my office at home. Well I hope I can post it...if the tenuous connection is up to it! Cross fingers.

MaybeI can post a couple of photos finally.

This is my sister Megan with little Amelie, on Basil's favourite armchair. I still think my sister looks far too young to be a Mum. I had dinner with them this week and got to have lots of cuddles and playtime.

This is my friend Sarah. She is one of my oldest friends, and is married to another very old friend. Their wedding invite was a photo of us heading off to a friend's birthday party, when we were all 3 years old. (They cut me out!). Sarah and Cam are the best type of friends....they know when to party and when to be serious...and they don't feed you fake bullshit advice. I love them to pieces.

This is me at the races last year with yet more old friends Sam and Rich...we all went to primary school together and have stayed mates ever since. We're heading back to the races in a couple of weeks with extra reason to celebrate - Sam just got engaged to his girlfriend Penny. By the way in this shot I am wearing my all time favourite dress - it's by Madame Hawke, a very cool NZ label. Check it out on http://www.rubynz.com/

This is me and Jimmy. Finally able to post some of our Argentina photos. I have posted them on Facebook instead of here, as there are about 50. Those long time readers will remember Jimmy as the Farmer from down South who I travelled to Sth America with in March, but then we broke up. We are still mates so there are no hard feelings.

This is my Dad. It's been good having him living nearby and he's been awesome at doing fatherly things for me like mow my lawns. I haven't lived near him since the divorce, when I was 14, so I am pleased that it's turning out well.

This is a beautiful photo, if I may say so, of a very patient Monarch butterfly who perched there on the branch while I cursed at my camera and finally got it working. The tree has been blossoming for weeks now and is my favourite thing in the garden. I have hung a bird seed bell from one of the branches but the birdies haven't noticed it yet.

To end on a high note, this is a most precious photo of the littlest bundle of snuggles, Amelie. Don't you just want to pick her up and snorgle her? I love her to bits.

Anyhoo a big weekend ahead - got my housewarming on. I am very very excited and spent last night cleaning windows and doing my nails. I have priorities! It's shaping up to be a very busy week with an enormous load of work on, then a big party to pull off, and I fear my temper may be a little short. I guess when I'm feeling like that, all I have to do is look at this pic of Amelie and just grin at how adorably smily she is.

xxx