Songs In Blue

I failed at NaBloPoMo.  In all the excitement of yesterday, I forgot to post.  The intention was there but I had no follow through, so Matt won.  There, I said it.  As much as I hate to admit it, I should’ve known because the dude ALWAYS wins.

Anyway, yesterday we went to pick up my Christmas present…the Nikon D60 kit!!  I’ve been waiting ages for this camera, and it’s been worth every one of the many pennies I spent on it.

After we got home with the camera, it was time for my office work party.  Let’s just say I took full advantage of the free champagne (and food) and leave it at that.  I don’t want to ruin the do-no-wrong image you may have of me (HA!).

So today, we went on a bit of a photo walk to see what my camera can do.  I think Matt will end up using it just as much as me…he’s pretty into it and takes really good photos.  Per usual, you can find more photos on my Flickr page.

Matt was taking pictures and started directing me.  This is “Ok, now think Tiger“

Stores have started playing Christmas music and today’s high was 25…WEIRD!  I’ll also be working on the cards I want to send out while tanning on my deck.  Luckily, tomorrow is my work’s Christmas Party (so early!) so maybe after that and putting up a tree, it’ll start to feel more like Christmas.

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I saw my first EVER Bond film last night!  It’s not that I don’t like them, I just never got the chance to see one.  Ok, that’s not completely true…we started watching Casino Royale one night in Indonesia but I ended up falling asleep.  What?  It was playing on someone’s laptop and you could barely hear a word, plus it had been a really long day.  Either way, I watched it last night (after making yummy pizza) and totally loved it!  Matt and I will probably go see the new one…Quantum something…this weekend.

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I’ll be going to my first pro soccer game tonight!  It’s the Wellington Phoenix vs. a really good team that will probably kick their ass.  This league is like the NHL of soccer and the Phoenix are like the Canucks during the ‘Keenan’ years.  We’re going with a bunch of friends so it should still be fun!

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A pod of about 15 dolphins hung out in the harbour for a few hours this morning.  See?

No really!  They were there!  They just went back under the water every time I took out my camera.

Here’s a better shot…kinda.  Really wish I could’ve been this kayaker:

I came home and had no idea what to write about, which is pretty normal!  Thankfully, Hannah saved my blogging life and tagged me in this cool photo meme.

I love memes…just saying.

Choose the 6th photo on the 6th page of your a) computer and b) photo sharing site.  Since I use Flickr and Facebook, I have 3 pictures to show off.

From my computer:

Lance at his 19th birthday, three days before I left for New Zealand.  I specifically planned to leave after my baby brother turned the big 1-9.  A couple of us thought it would be funny to get him a really girlie drink, and someone else got him something a little more manly.  He’s obviously has a dilemma.

From Facebook:

That’s my eldest bros kids (my niece and nephew…no kidding), Jayden and Seth.  I’ve only seen them a handful of times, but they are SO cute and SO funny!

From Flickr:

I LOVE this one.  Matt took it through the windshield of our car while we were driving in the South Island.  Everything about it is perfect, the sky and clouds, the rolling hills…talented, no?

Now, to tag 6 people.  I know most won’t do this, but oh well.

Raul
Tyler
Angella
Heathercoo
Mel
Confused Twenty

My flat has an addiction – chocolate milk (with the odd banana one thrown in), but not just any chocolate milk…EDGE, the big M, Man milk with lots of protein.  We stock up when it goes on sale and there’s always at least one in our fridge at any given time.

It’s no secret that Wellington is windy, I experienced it the last time I was here.  However, I think I was too distracted entertained by Danielle’s infamous short skirts constantly being blown up for the world to see.  Good times.   Anyway, I forgot just how windy it gets…try 130kms on a clear day.  Wanna see?

Takes resistance training to a whole other level…trust me.  One moment you’re leaning forward just to keep from flying backwards and the next you’re being pushed down the street.  Besides walking to work, it’s actually quite fun.

This next picture took forever to get thanks to said wind.  I think I hovered over the flower for a solid 7 minutes before I caught a break and shot this photo.  I like it.

Only one week of NaBloPoMo left…thank God.  It hasn’t been too bad and I’ll probably keep updating often, but every day is a bit much for me.  Plus, I don’t want to bore everyone to death with these posts I come up with.  Next year, I’ll prepare a bit better!

It’s been almost three months since I arrived in NZ.  I can’t believe it’s been that long, but at the same time it feels like I’ve been here forever!  I’m starting to get a little homesick now, especially with the holidays coming up but I’m not going to lie, I love living here.  I was so worried before I left that things would back fire, or I wouldn’t like it here…obviously it was a big decision to make, and I didn’t take it lightly.  But no matter how much sleep I lost, I always knew that I was doing the right thing…and it paid off.  Of course I miss my family and friends, but with the internet and everything it’s so easy to stay in touch that it barely feels like I’m living in another country.

The truth is, I never had a reason to doubt…everything is better that I could’ve expected it.  I don’t want to be cheesy here, there’s obviously annoyances that come with work and life in general, but I’ve honestly never been happier.

I think I’ve seen more soccer games in the last 3 months than the last 21 years.  It’ll never replace hockey but I’m starting to enjoy the game, especially when Matt and other people we know are playing.  Watching a pro game is a little more challenging and I usually only last the first half.
Every Sunday or Monday, Matt and some of his friends play on a indoor soccer team, ‘Team Tamatea’.  It’s supposed to be a casual thing, but these boys get pretty into it and even have matching jerseys.  Ever since they started wearing them, other teams have been showing up in similar colours…it’s pretty funny.  I took some pictures tonight, but they aren’t that great…can’t wait for my new camera!

We’re in white.

My brain completely shuts down on the weekend, so this post will be short.
We don’t have much, if anything, planned, which is really nice and totally needed!  So far we slept in, then went for a walk…which turned out to be a little expensive.  I bought a book specifically on the camera I’m buying cause I figured I could read/learn before I got it…plus I’m just so freakin excited!
We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch…won’t need to eat for the rest of the day, wow!  I had never had Indian until I got here, and this was only my second time.  It’s pretty heavy, but really good.

On our trip down to the South Island, we played some scrabble at one of the hostels we stayed at.  I really didn’t like scrabble up until that point, but now I love it!  We ended up buying the game today, so tomorrow will probably be spent playing it!

What are your plans?

From now on Friday posts are going to be filled with random tidbits from the last week that I couldn’t fit into any of the previous posts. They should be interesting and maybe little unintelligible since my brain tends to shut down for the weekend, around noon.

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After all the frustration and hard work, at work, I still have over 100 tasks sitting in my manager program-y thing-y.  There’s not much I can do about a majority of them (90+) since I’m waiting on others to get their act together and give me the information I need to process them.  To them I say, I do not get nicer with each reminder email I send you.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite. BE WARNED.

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After my walk yesterday, I went to the grocery store to pick up some strawberries and Edge(I’ll save that for another post).  On my way out I passed a guy wearing a CANUCKS SWEATER! I almost hugged him, but thought the girl he was with wouldn’t really appreciate some chick hugging her boyfriend.  Fair enough. Then I thought about asking to take a picture with him, but decided that I didn’t want to come off crazy…so I just keep walking.

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I’ve come to learn that while I more often than not have the ability to filter what comes out of my mouth so I don’t sound ignorant…others do not.  There’s a guy at my work that constantly tries to start conversations with me by bringing up what little knowledge of Canada he has.  I have no problem with this until the 23rd question he asks me is, “So why don’t you hear a lot about Canada in the news?”

“We live in igloos and therefore have no contact with the outside world.  I mean, why would we want to when we have our dog sleds, bears and whale hunting to keep us occupied?”

Needless to say, Kiwis have a good sense of humour.

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I have absolutely nothing planned and it’s supposed to rain all weekend.  I actually don’t mind at all and look forward to a nice, relaxing weekend!!

I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, so tonight I got off my butt and went for a nice long walk.  Don’t ask Matt if I did though….when I got home and told him where I had been, he just said,

“You didn’t go on a walk…you don’t do things like that!”

Thanks, dude.  Good thing I took pictures (hover for captions):

This is the point where I started to wonder where I was.

But I got home, safe and inspired.