Breath

I haven't done a post recently as I haven't really had anything of interest to talk about. It is really cold but the sun is shining. Good to have some rain in the region every now and then as well. Not so great for the biking but no biggy. Nic goes to school, Jonty and I go to work. See, nothing of great interest. But we did have a lovely lunch out with old friends on Saturday at Rossendale Winery which was nice and really long. No booze for me though so not as sleepy as you might think.

We did get a cool piano off Trademe for Nic. He loves it. He and Olivia were funny giving recitals every few minutes. O loves to dance and N loves to 'play' the piano so it is a great combo.

And I finished Tim Winton's latest 'Breath'. Loved it. A lot!Oh yes, and I made some lime and passionfruit cupcakes with orange icing for the lunch boxes...all gone already. Happy to share the recipe.

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.