Cupcake Cutie

That's me, according to my new pink cupcake pyjamas that my lovely Jonty gave me for my birthday. I laughed my head off when I saw them. Interestingly I had made cupcakes the night before for my small birthday celebration with my family. I also got some new earphones for my MP3 player which are gorgeous and large enough to act as ear warmers at the same time. No more little bud speakers popping out of my ears under layers of scarf and jacket. Tested them on the way to work this morning and they are brilliant. Thanks Jonty. I had a fabulous day doing my stuff. Breakfast in bed while reading my new U2 book-another treasured present, receiving a few phone calls, lovely cards and texts. We went for a sunny and pretty fast bike ride around Hagley Park with a break at the Arts Centre for coffee and brioche. It was unseasonably hot for June and we were able to sit outside for lunch with Marie-Anne of homemade pizza and rocket salad. M-A contributed a very stunning chocolate cherry cheesecake... the diet quickly disintegrated from this point, it was like open flood gates. Let's not dwell on that!! I know this is a crap photo but I was on my bike at the time, biking. Nice sunny shot though

Anyway, the family arrived and we spent a very relaxed afternoon eating and drinking and catching up. No dinner last night-too full. Topping off the day was a phone call from my lovely sister-in-law Louisa in England. Overall the weekend was fabulous - full of my favourite things. I am thrilled to be 45!! Yay me, I made it this far and I feel blessed because as we all know, there are friends and family who haven't. Had a few laughs during the day with Nic who was particularly loving all day. My favourite was his affirmation that he was 'liking your moves there Mum' while we were dancing to Meatloaf. What made it funny for me was that I was dressed in my pink cupcake pyjamas with no bra on, so there were a few more moves than might have been desirable. tee hee.

Nic was the art director for the photos, hence my 'school girl on the mat' pose on the floor of the Arts Centre entrance.

Sex and the City

I laughed, I cried. The shoes. The frocks. I cannot say anything more until I know everyone who may read this will have seen it. But I have to say I loved the film more than I thought I would. Things do improve with age.

Have you ever...

bought a pair of shoes that come with a one year warranty? Well I have and I just can't believe I would do that. A sudden rush of blood to the head in a place far far away. Well not that far away but under the influence of Auckland and my dear friend Karen. I believe I did gasp when I spotted the Camper store on Broadway. Meet Lucia. I will leave you to get acquainted while I continue shopping trip. Shopping and talking and eating and drinking were on the agenda but really the shopping and talking took over. We didn't really have time to do lots of eating and drinking. I did come home with three pairs of shoes and one skirt and assorted presents for my lovely family at home though. Plus some tasty treats from Zarbo. Spent over my budget but the credit card bill is a few weeks away so will worry about that later.
Saturday night was spent in the camp Civic theatre watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the musical. Heaps of fun, great costumes. Loved the building and the crowd really got in to it. Lovely to meet Karen's friends too. After a very pleasant nights sleep in the hotel we hopped on the ferry and headed for a very Auckland wander around Devonport. Lovely. Then a saunter up Queen Street after a peek at Britomart and off to the airport loaded down with shoe boxes and a heavy bag. Great weekend of chilling out. Forgot to mention we had lunch with my lovely friend Reg at the Cock and Bull so there was food but the chat far outshone the kai.Oh yes, and I missed the snow fall at home on Saturday but I did get a spectacular view of Canterbury in all its whiteness. Lovely

Extremely loud & incredibly close

...would be a very accurate description of Nicholas getting in to bed in the morning. Alternatively it could be the title of a fantastic book. I have just finished reading it. I loved it so much and as you can see in the photo I just had to finish it upright and in the presence of everyone and a loud talking book. Jonathan Safran Foer is a genius writer and I am in love with Oskar Schell. If you gave this book to a friend for a present, it would be a treasured gift. Beautiful!

24 hour pass

We travelled 6 kms from home and booked in the the Hotel SO and so our 24 hours of timeout began. It might seem a bit odd to travel a mere 10 minutes from home but being a tourist in your own town is really fun. We met some friends for lunch at The Globe and managed to get ourselves a sunny spot on the footpath. Very nice. On the pretext of popping to the loo, I actually popped to 'One Big Sugar Bowl' and fondled the stuff. The upshot of that being the acquisition of a gorgeous red necklace, a mere trinket with love from my lovely husband.

After farewells we wandered through the central city stopping and inspecting the wares. No other purchases were made but a little list of birthday presents was made.
After reclining in our tiny and technology laden room we headed out for our night on the town. Starting at Cartel in SOL Square, we discovered everyone was off at the rugby. Yay, we had the lovely outdoor sofa, complete with hot water bottle to ourselves. After a very moreish Shiraz we wandered down to Pedro's restaurant. A long standing Spanish iconic restaurant. I indulged in a plate of perfectly grilled seafood and another Shiraz.
The city was eerily quiet as everyone was either at AMI stadium watching the match or watching at the pub or at home. As we ended our evening watching the last minutes of the game in our hotel, I knew the whole town was about to explode with celebrating rugby heads. Having had my fill of wine and food, I chose to snuckle in to the lovely soft bed with lovely linen and get some sleep. Shame that the pub next door to the hotel...5cm from our wall...has a late liquor licence that also included thumping base music until 5.30am. Shitty way to end the 24 hours of fun. The freezing cold air con in our room was another bummer but I wont dwell on those little annoyances. If you are going to Hotel SO, ensure you have a room very high up or on the west side of the building or you wont get any sleep.

Bean Scene

After a yummy breakfast of eggs and mushrooms at Bean Scene we headed home to our lovely pusscat Georgie and really noisy Nicholas. What fun we had laughing and re connecting after a couple of really hard months. Thanks to Ruth and Simon for looking after the boy, we owe you.

Will you marry me?

We had the very big pleasure of attending a wedding yesterday afternoon. No better way to spend an cold damp afternoon than in the company of friends witnessing the loveliness of a wedding. Clare and Phil - congratulations!!

Loved the bit where as part of their wedding vows, they asked 'will you marry me?'. That got us all going. It was gorgeous. After lots of drizzle all morning, the sun appeared just in time for the outdoor service. Butterflies in their 10's fluttered in the trees and gorgeous gold leaves acted as a stunning backdrop. Sounds very poetic and it really was.

Another really cool thing about going to an old friend's wedding is catching up with all your other old friends. Here we are posing - with no flash on the camera so not that great a photo but fun none the less.

Our Georgie Girl

Our littlest family member has been named Georgie (George for short), although Nicholas insists her name is Lavender. She is a sweetie who loves her bed and heads off at 8.30 every night. Who wouldn't love this lovely red squashy bed?

Film of the year - so far

I just can't describe this film with out it sounding dire and depressing but on the contrary 'The diving bell and the butterfly' is a stunning 5 out of 5 or even a 10 out of 10. I jokingly referred to it before going tonight as 'my left eye' as it is about a French magazine editor who is left with 'locked-in syndrome' after suffering a stroke. His only means of communicatoin was his left eye. Terrible enough in itself ,you expect even worse things to happen to him post trauma but the reality is that it was a very moving story, simple and powerful. Shot from the left eye and other sympathetic angles it is stunning. Alex and I just loved it and you have to see it. I have never seen an audience so quiet and respectful. Stunning.

Sea World

Still revisiting pleasant holiday memories as Autumn really settles in. The wind was icy cold this afternoon and the leaves are whirling about a lot more than they were last week. The colours are gorgeously intense with the apricot tree being my favourite at the moment. Although we are still struggling through a difficult time with the small person, there were moments of fun and enjoyment today. A very pleasant morning spent in the company of two lovely women and their adorable twin boys up in Cashmere in a beautiful home in a sunny spot. Family visits and watching four children having a blast fooling about on the trampoline. Watching Nic in his very too small Superman outfit with his cycle helmet racing Nat with a glossy clown suit and red and black rugby beany and cycle helmet down the drive was very funny. However, this post is not about another Saturday in Christchurch, rather about a sunny day on the Gold Coast.

Dolphins and fish and roller coasters and other fun rides plus a very cheesy American style ski jumping show and a whole lot of other lovely things. The water flume ride and the Bermuda Triangle were such a hoot and I loved my first roller coaster ride. It was short intense and very upside down so short and intense was pretty much how I liked it. Jasmine looks so cool and I am yelling hi to Nic not screaming. It was such a fun and action packed day. Nic was the only child at the Sesame Street performance who didn't know who the characters were. Pre-school kids don't have time to watch TV so miss out on lots of those things. No big deal as far as I am concerned but interesting.

I could tell you about all the worthy and interesting things about Sea World but you can check out the link above and see for yourself. I decided not to take the day too seriously and just have a good time. It was so well set out and there were lots of people there having a really nice time. Of note was a totally insane group of Philippine tourists dressed in the most insane clothes and stopping every few steps to have amazingly weird photos taken. I thought we were on candid camera., unwitting guests at a fancy dress party, and I am no stranger to travelling and seeing weird and interesting people. I am not sure they saw anything of the park because they were so busy having their photo taken by the signs and doing that peace sign thing. Bloody hilarious. Love the Gold Coast and all the odd life that visits there.

Aaah Mothers Day

So the sun has well and truly set on Mothers Day and unlike my post in 2006 I am not experiencing a warm fuzzy feeling. Why?

• Nicholas was tired out of his mind and was a total s**t all day
• I visited a friend of mine whose daughter has died and how shitty is that for her?!
• Made a lovely orange cake for said friend and then bloody broke it...took a container of home made biscuits instead (and a stunning bottle of wine)
• After hiding all of N's toys for continuous mis-demeanour's, I then had to ring a friend and bleat down the phone about being a terrible mother with no patience or skills...saddo. I have no right to feel so sorry for myself for God's sake
• Forgot to ring Adam in England to wish him a happy birthday

Some good things did happen

• Lovely new kitty cat lay on the bed while I finished a really enjoyable book - Bitter Sweets
• Visited my lovely mother at home and gave her a lovely book which I hope to read myself one day
• Ate beautiful free range pork fillet for dinner
• Nicholas went to bed early

Let's hope tomorrow is a better day. I hope everyone else had a good day

Wet'n'wild

I think I might have got a porn hit or two on my last post of a similar title. Moving on, we went to Wet'n'wild on the Gold Coast and had the time of our lives. Nic was amazing and stoically tried every ride with the calmness of either infant indifference or pure terror. It was a great day and we don't really have the pics to prove it cos it is hard to keep your camera dry in a wet and wild environment. However, I can share with you, for the very first time, picture of me in my togs, having fun. I must say that we knew where the cameras were so hammed it up a bit.

Our new baby is here

She arrived today and she is gorgeous. Our little family is now complete and we are all gaga. Sad I know but you just cant help but love her. We rescued her from he SPCA - left by people moving house she had been in the pound for 2 months so is loving being in a home again. She has been playing with rolled up paper and sitting on all the seats and trying out all the laps. She is as quiet as a mouse and very very calm. Nicholas is just terrorising her and she seems to be taking it ok. I feel so sorry for her having him following her all the time and lying on the floor 5cm away watching her eat and you should see the way he carries her. No name yet. We would love some suggestions but I know my readers (all two of you) don't comment, which is ok, but if you can think of a cool name, make a comment.
She is so cute, I almost cried when we put her in the car. Having a bit of an emotional time lately. Two glasses of red wine last night and I was almost gibbering. A real saddo. I had forgotten how much I like to drink and go to the pub and talk sh**. I really am a party girl at heart and feel that the repression of partying for the last few years is about to lift. Could be messy. No doubt sensible parenting and partnership will prevail - sadly.

Saturdays

Saturdays really are the best ever days. And I would have to say that some of my all time best Saturdays have been when I have been travelling. There was a Saturday in London in 1990 that really stands out and another in the same place about 11 years later. We had an awesome Saturday in Amsterdam and one in Linz this last trip to Europe and even in Australia two weeks ago, we had another perfect Saturday. Analysing the days I would have to say that most involve markets, shopping, travelling, food of some description and a bit of culture. Underpinning those things is the feeling that for one day a week, even in a foreign country, everyone is doing the same stuff and you actually belong to the global village.

We went to Brisbane after several days of rain soaked adventures on the Gold Coast. Having spotted a sun on the weather map within easy driving distance we hightailed it for the bright light of Brissy. We had a fantastic day. Poor old Nic was walked off his feet but was rewarded with ice creams, frozen yoghurt, more food, a visit to the museum and swimming.

Getting ourselves to the South Bank required about two sets of lights and a left turn or two. Not bad for a 101km journey. Gotta love that Pacific Highway. Rocking up early we started our journey at one end of the South Bank precinct, wandering along the Arbour Walkway and spent about 7 hours working our way through the market, past the Nepalese Temple, into the stunning Queensland Art Gallery..., ... through the very busy and impressive museum...a wander over the bridge (brown water in the river the likes of which we don't have in the South Island of NZ), past the stunning new public library, up the tacky heaving and very interesting shopping mall before lunch in the food court. Back down the mall and into the library...with 10 minutes to explore before closing, back over the bridge, back down the path to the artificial beach, another graze through the market, down the stairs and into the car. A couple of right turns and we were off out of the sun into the pi#$%ng rain soaked Gold Coast. Although I had blisters from my jandals I felt uplifted and energised by yet another fantastic Saturday. We all felt the same.