I.D.

While at the local library, I.D. magazine caught my eye. On the cover was a hand-crafted wedding gown (out of recycled plastic). Being in the midst of planning my own wedding, I added it to my stack. I finally got around to thumbing through it the other day and found everything in it interesting; the pictures, the articles, even the letters to the editor. Being a scientist and not an artist, I had never stumbled across this bad boy before and am ever so happy I did. However, their webpage does not even remotely stack up to the magazine itself (or at least the issue I checked out).

Happy Waitangi Day!

This is a video from the helicopter.

Need. To. Vent.

So there is this guy at the gym that always hogs the stations, machines, benches, basically anything and everything you need to use, at the same time! I commented to blue about him one time and he says, oh you mean little arm guy? Me, I'm like, wha? He has a little arm, I never noticed, I'll have to check that out. So I filed that away until my next encounter, sure enough, he does have one short arm, whaddayaknow.

Anyway, today was no different than any other day in little arm guy world, he's hoggin' again. Two sets of free weights were sitting on the bench I needed to use so I chipped away at the usual exercises, checking back to see if the weights have moved and to confirm that indeed it is little arm guy. Well time kept ticking away and I got through everything except for the few exercises I do on the bench in the free weight area. Check, weights still there. And I says to myself, "self go move those and get on with it, he can't be hoggin' all the time like that, it's a small gym after all. What does little arm guy thinks he's special because he has a little arm? or perhaps for another reason unknown to you." So I go over and move the huge weights, one at a time, with two hands for each. Sure enough, as soon as I get them down to the ground, little arm guy runs over to let me know he was just about to use that. And I say to little arm guy (in my nicest voice ;), ok, but could you please not just leave your weights here to "save" the bench (no I didn't do air quotes). And he tries to rationalize with me, like I don't know he does this all the time while he goes on multiple other pieces of equipment, he tells me that it is OK to go and have a drink of water and then come back. So of course I have to say, "but you don't just go have a drink of water and come back, you go and use other machines. It's a small gym and other people may want to use the equipment you aren't currently using." And he says, "yes they may."

So I put the weights back that I was going to use, realize that I would just have to stand there and wait some more for little arm guy in order to complete my workout, and I leave. I hate confrontation, but I'm not afraid to use it necessary situations such as these.

On an up note, I went to yoga today at lunch and it was lovely. Blue's advisor was in the class and it took me a while to compose myself (aka not giggle myself into a stupor).

Helicopter, helicopter, over my head. I pick the color and the color is...

Although the helicopter ride was short, it was sweet. When we got dropped off, it was cloudy and cool so the views weren't too great. But still, I was in a helicopter flying over the rainforest in New Zealand, so it wasn't bad.

After the drop off we worked for 2 days at the treeline and then had a day to hang out before the helicopter's scheduled pick up. Luckily the weather on the day off was great. We ended up taking a short trail from the hut up to a ridge where there was a nice lake surrounded by boggy forest. It was very much like being home on Lake Hildebrand. The species were a little different and it was a bit smaller. All it needed was a few rafts and a pier ;)

Urchin

I made this hat from knitty last night. Unfortunately it didn't turn out as cute as expected. It's a bit big on me and if I pull it down in order to actually keep my ears warm it looks like a big puffball. If I made it again I would probably use smaller needles or make size small. Luckily for me, it's summer so I don't have to worry about pulling it off or not.

I'm off to work in "the bush" for the week. We get to helicopter in. HURRAY! Hopefully I'll get some great pics to put up.

I've been knitting again

And I want to make this now! My friend L says, "haven't you already knit an elephant?" The answer is yes, yes I have, but it isn't here in New Zealand with us so... I obviously need to make another one, plus this one is different, way different.



I went back to blond earlier this week. No more mousy brown for this gal. Funny thing is, it doesn't really seem any different to me. Nobody else seemed to notice either, but my hair has been blonding up more than usual this summer (thanks to that hole in the ozone that hangs over this part of the earth).

R.I.P. Sir Edmund Hillary

PENGUINS!!!

Over the xmas break blue and I got in our little red car and headed out on an unplanned adventure. We had some ideas of places we wanted to visit, a couple of guide books, and a tent. This image from google earth, with my crude drawing of our route is a pretty good representation of our journey.

We headed north first, over lewis pass to the west coast. We did an overnight hike up a mountain in some old mining territory and had some beautiful views. Then up the coast to see the pancake rocks. And at night we went and saw glow worms in a cave!

The next day we meandered down the coast to the glaciers which were beautiful.

There were a lot of mountains to see (when it wasn't cloudy and raining) and waterfalls too. One observation we made in our travels and nights at various campgrounds is that most of the campgrounds on the west coasts were predominately inhabited by german tourists. As we passed back over to the east side of the southern alps range, the german tourists dropped out and the french tourists appeared. Not sure why...

Anyway after a truly amazing evening in a campground filled with kiwi-hicks holidaying, we set out early (our earliest start on the whole trip) to the east coast in search of penguins, and we found them! 2 different species! PENGUINS!!! up close, tuxedos and all. It was the highlight of the trip for sure. The species pictured below is the yellow-eyed penguin, it is the rarest penguin species. We saw several pairs nesting on the rocky shores and even saw a chick getting fed about 1 m away! (although mostly obscured in a bush) Man, penguins are sweet! We also saw 180 little blue penguins (the worlds smallest penguin species) coming ashore to nest at night. We had to pay for the experience, but it was worth it. They are about 30 cm tall and they are soo cute! The wouldn't let us take pictures though :( Blue has some up close and personal pics of the yellow eyed up on his flickr.

No Carlo Rossi

I couldn't resist this cute 1 litre jug wine for $10 at the local grocer. Of course for that price I wasn't expecting much from it, but knew that it was worth the cost in amusement value. Turns out it isn't half bad and works well as a table wine. Also, it is really fun to put your finger in that little handle and just swig it back (again, yeah, I'm classy like that). We are thinking of having a jug wine party. If only we had friends to invite that were of the same caliber...

spring (summer?) fleurs

I made a bouquet out of flowers in my yard and stuck them in a vase (aka a beer bottle, i'm classy like that). It's fun to live in a place where the previous inhabitant planted lots of neat flowers. It's like a treat when new flowers pop up every week or so. I especially like the little pink roses so round and cute! Those flat seed pods are neat too.

what is that draft on my right cheek?

This morning Blue was the first and (thankfully)only person to noticed a large split down the back right side of my pants. It was a pretty grim realization that came only after arriving at school, yet before actually starting work. Making the 25 minute commute back home was not an option because I already had to take a long lunch in order to take Blue into town at lunch time and attempt to complete all the field work scheduled for the day :( So I did the good ol' shirt wrap and carried on with my morning. Luckily I was in working in the field alone so I didn't have to worry about much more than a draft on my backside.
I made a stop home at lunch to swap pants and realized just how threadbare my poor little pants were. I'm pretty bummed, I have had these pants for a long time (obviously) and they were my favorite field/hiking pants. A quick search online and I have already found the same brand/style for a replacement. The promise of new pants makes me less sad to give up the ghost on these old gals.

Yarndrops

In lieu of posting about the knitting I've been doing I thought I would post a pic of a piece of art that reminds me of knitting or yarn anyway. The title of this piece is Raindrops, but I think it looks more like yarndrops.



And because I borrowed her image may I just say: Yellana sells originals and prints. Me wants one :D

Happy Box Day to Me!

hurray!, originally uploaded by mmm gin.

Hurray Hurray! Two very special packages arrived today. The first being our 'entertainment system.' We can finally listen to the radio and watch dvds! (not to mention listen to music loud and clear - no more laptop speakers or headphones!)

The second package is just as, if not more important. It is from my mom :D (and sisters). It had lots of clothes (thanks kiki and rache - I finally used my giftcard ;) It also included a bunch of toiletries (that are much less expensive back home), my wedding shoes (hurray!) and a bunch of mail (that I probably won't read). Hurray for packages full of goodies!!!

Happy Halloween

This is the first time in my life that Halloween has passed by virtually unnoticed. Apart from a few websites having neat jack-o-lantern designs and my fave NZ tv show having a halloween party, there was nothing. No delcious candy in orange and black wrappers, no isles filled with halloween junk, no fake spiderwebs strung in corners, and no trick or treaters. The closest halloweenie thing that happened today was the sky at dusk. It was pretty neat. Did I mention that Halloween is my favorite holiday?

flashback from last year (creativity with white sheets)

wee garden

We have been hammered by spring rains for the last few weeks and our wee garden plants have handled it better than I expected them to. In this particular bed we put in a few different kinds of lettuce, hot peppers and some spinach. The tomatoes, basil and more peppers are sprouting in containers in the house. In a few more weeks they will be ready to go in and hopefully the weather will be warm enough to make them flourish. Our herbs and lavender (mmm my fave) are also doing well in pots. This is our first real garden (outside of pots on the back porch). Now all we need is to figure out where to put up the hammock so we can sit, swing, and gaze at the fruits of our labors.

Not sure what this flower is but it popped up along our sidewalk :D

Nerd Report

After hearing a discussion on the radio about egg production and how much better free range eggs are we decided to buy some slightly more expensive free range eggs. After frying a few up the verdict is in, they are delicious. Not only are they larger than the 'normal' ones (although I don't think that there is much about the production of those eggs), they are tastier too mmm mmm.

However, according to wikipedia, the laws concerning free range eggs in the U.S. are all willynilly and labeling eggs free range doesn't really mean they have to be free range. Lame.

One more egg note: when you get a fried egg at a restaurant here it is always sunny side up. If you are someone who despises runny yolks make sure you remember to say something when ordering eggs while visiting me (unless you are having breakfast at my place - don't worry, i'll cook your yolk).

Sundays are for...

sleeping in, drinking large cups of coffee, watching the kitty traffic parade through the back yard, eating omelets and cheese scones, world cup footie reruns, and dreaming of new patterns to knit.

Last night we hauled ourselves over to the wunderbar which was a treat in itself (be sure to check out the 360 images of both inside and out on their site). We we were there to watch the band of this guy that I work with, insurgents. They opened for this band from Auckland the situations. Although turnout for the show wasn't great and the sets were short, both of us enjoyed the music and being out and about. On the downside it made me feel really old. All the kids in insurgents are 18 and they and all their friends dress like they are living in the 80s, especially the girls!!! They all had so much spunk and uncontained energy, it was impressive and entertaining. But back to the 80s dress code, why Why WHY??? Is it this bad back in the states? Did all those awful styles really make it back? I guess none of them experienced it for the first time so it is new and novel for them. All the same I pray it is short-lived (because it is making me feel old and crabby lol).

itch to knit

Although I have switched hemispheres and therefore reversed all the seasons, the season for the itch to knit still coincides with autumn in the northern hemisphere (which isn't very convenient if you think about it). But thanks to maepress I have found this fab pattern that I have an itch to knit. Tomorrow I am going to the lys and picking up some skeins of yarn and maybe some longer circular needles (if I can find them).

Over the weekend blue and I were working on the banks peninsula and even though it is spring here, we still needed the wood stove at the lodge. I took advantage of the ambiance and worked a few rows on a washcloth that has been on the needles for an embarrassingly long time.


This was sunrise on sunday morning, the beautiful morning sky resulted in nasty cold, rainy, foggy weather for the rest of the day (that we had to work in). Thankfully there were some beautiful moments that redeemed it!

bowl o' plenty

fruits, originally uploaded by mmm gin.

Our local produce store (The Funky Pumpkin) has been supplying us with delicious and interesting new fruits and vegetables. In this bowl there were a few new items for us: Longans (the little brown guys) they had this white opaque fruit with a cherry pit like seed under the easy to peel skin, tamarillos (the red oblongs ones) these are fun to squish up, bite the end off and suck out the inside (apparently that is how the kids 'round here eat them), pluots (the ones that look like a combo between a plum and apricot), and purple passion fruit (the purple one) yum. We have also had a few persimmons (the orange guy in the back) and enjoyed the golden kiwis common here (the skin is a little easier to eat :)

mmmmmm fruit

I picked this can of salmon out because of the sweet label. Blue said the label is the very reason he did not pick it out. But I reckon it must be delicious, it's from Canadia.

hike hike hike hike hike hike hike

or if you are speaking kiwi: tramp tramp tramp tramp tramp tramp tramp. Yeah, they call hiking or backpacking tramping here. According to wikipedia, tramping involves camping, but from what I can tell from talking to kiwis, a hearty day hike can also be considered a tramp.

Anyhoo, there has been a lot of tramping going on here the last few weekends. 2 weeks ago we headed north to Hanmer Springs were we did a long day hike to the top of mt isobel and back (the above pic is me at the top). It wasn't as cold as the larger mountains in the background make it appear. There was some snow (as seen in the foreground) but the breeze was only slight and it was sunny and nice. After the long hours on the trail we headed to the town's hot springs to relax for a few hours before driving back to Christchurch. We decided that all long hikes should end in a few relaxing hours of thermal pools, it helped ease the soreness more than expected. sooooo wonderful...

September???

Holy Wow, it is September! Where did June, July, and August go??? Anyone? Well at least that means that spring is here/just around the corner, unfortunately that means that autumn is just around the corner up there. Eventually I may get used to this complete switch of seasons, but for now it still seems like it should be hot, humid summer weather.
The past few days have brought these wonderful northwesterly winds that are all warm and springlike. The sun has been shining and the lambs frolicking. Tomorrow blue and I are headed out on the (banks) peninsula to do some field work. It should be a great change of pace from being stuck behind an espresso machine all day (or behind a computer)!

*no rain no rain no rain*
*big sunshine big sunshine*
*no rain*

here's hoping for some warm weather

I haven't been home in the day light to take photos of the place, but this one was taken by blue before some items were added/arranged (note the upgraded couch).

And this is our new kitchen which seems to be working out quite well. We entertained over the weekend and all four of us mingled comfortably.

Not much else is new here, just workin' for the man (or the woman, 50/50 really). I don't have to work this Saturday and am happy to have my first 2 day weekend in a month! HURRAY! Wish I could say that we have something planned, but as of yet that is not the case. Perhaps we will work on the garden or at least on the garden plan. It has been cold here all week and I am hoping for a warm spell in our future, this weekend does not look promising in that respect.

New Flat

We are moved in to the new place, but are still collecting goods, mostly purchased via internet auction. Unfortunately when we moved in the place had not been cleaned so we have been doing that and unpacking/accumulating things to make it more comfortable. Today we picked up the desk for our office and a larger area heater. The photo below is of our 'love seat' and coffee table aka our living room furniture as of now (total cost $31). This weekend we will pick up the couch and borrowed washer and kitchen table/chairs.
Once we are settled in I will post some more photos!

sheep drives

So today I got caught in my second sheep drive...ON MY BIKE!!! I wasn't really sure what to do (either time) and since I was going with the flow of sheep I just scootched by on the side of the road. The sheep got freaked out, as sheep do, and ran away from me as I approached them. Although, I did get a good scare from one who stopped not too far in front of me and stared at me, but she moved just in the knick of time.
My first sheep drive occurred last week, but I was in the car and moving against the flow of sheep. Again I just scootched around them, but I had to drive on the right side of the road. I couldn't help but take the opportunity to snap a pic through my dirty windshield! Oh and right after the first sheep drive, there was a cattle drive, it too was funny and entertaining, but just not as cool as the sheep.
Many of the local sheep are lambing right now, so I got to see some cute little lambs on my ride today too and some momma sheep with loads of milk hangin' low.

some pics

These are the socks that I finished probably a month ago and haven't taken a picture of them until just now. I used my computer camera because I am too lazy to to use a real camera and then upload it. But these socks are great, made with yarn that was gifted to me about a year ago (thanks sk) I used a grumperina pattern that was in the spring interweave (i think).

This next pic I took when we first got here. Our hotel was right by this tutu shop and I thought it was hilarious. I also thought my sis kiki would think it was funny, so this one is for you!



And lastly, this is one of me making a funny face, on a windy windy day in lyttleton (with texas hair - rache take some tips!).

A dearly missed 4th of July :(

I missed the 4th of July this year. There were no boca brats, potato chips, fire works, sparklers or alcoholic binges this year. There was also no hot weather or swimming either. Ah, but there was one good thing this year - a job! I had an interview in the morning and was offered the job in the afternoon. It is only a part time position, but comes with some good perks. Now instead of blue working in my lab on projects similar to mine, I will be working in his department on projects similar to his! Should be fun and I am excited to work on invasive species stuff since I never have before! I will still keep my cafe job which will be good for the bank account!

In other recent events, we have found a bigger apartment, in a more central location. It is not too far from the beach, at the base of the hill (at the top of which are hiking and biking trails), and it is a lot closer to the city center. We will now have to commute into Lincoln for work, but it is so boring here, I think it will be worth it. We move in 3 weeks and I am very excited about the prospect of having a bathtub and a garden :)

British Comedy, FUNNY?

This weekend Blue and I did a little touring around Christchurch. We happened by a park that had some sort of historical/cultural event going on. There was food, people in costumes, and pinwheels. We tried a kabob and did a little people watching. The pic to the left is some weird clock downtown. Doesn't it look like two completely different pieces? (not to mention that building in the background) Maybe it is, I didn't stop to see if there was public indication of it. Oh, and I took it while I was driving :D (much to blue's chagrin).

I have also discovered a hilarious british comedy tv show (yeah I know sounds like an oxymoron). It is called Man Stroke Woman and is a skit show (much funnier than SNL). I wasn't able to watch the clips on the official page. But youtube has some great clips. This is one of my fave's.

Pasha Bulker

A few weeks ago a storm off the coast of australia successfully beached the pasha bulker on a popular swimming beach in Newcastle. It is quite a sight and the australian news we get is constantly talking about it, especially since there is a big storm coming and they are afraid it is going to break open and spew oil all over the place. They are hoping to wait until next month when the tide is higher to try and pull it out, but in the mean time sand is accumulating all around it and it is becoming more and more stuck. It looks pretty cool though!
There are some cool pics if you click here.

Fibre art

I recognized this song from an ipod commercial, but didn't know the artist or that they were from NZ. Interstingly enough, they apparently are into the fiber art. (it is Steriogram - Walkie Talkie Man)

Kiwi phrases, top 7 (cause that is all i can think of):

7: Good as gold (We have this saying in the states, but it isn't used at the same frequency as it is here)

6: Mate (yeah you've all heard this one, it mean friend, but is used constantly)

5: mmm (a low grumbly noise made in agreement)

4: Tartlet (a derogatory comment used between females)

3: Cheers (This word pretty much means anything, but mostly thanks and good bye)

2: Good onya (means "good for you" but is used much more casually and often than you would say good for you)

1: Ta (I just noticed this one yesterday, but then heard it nonstop. Maybe I was tuning it out before. Anyway it means "thanks" and I like it the best :) I asked where it originated from, but the kiwis I work with didn't know)

Finally, the coast

I've picked up extra shifts and will be working all weekend so blue and I decided to take a little morning adventure today. We headed towards the closest coast and captured some photos on the way (check out the fickr account). We ended up stopping at a few beaches including Shag Rock on Sumner Beach and Taylors Mistake, a local surfing beach. The sun was out today which made the sea breezes tolerable, I would even call it pleasant (with a jacket). I tested the water and it was a bit chilly, ok it was COLD! But there were some brave surfers out trying to catch a wave (I didn't see anyone actually catch one).

Blue also put up some pics from our jaunt to Lake Tekapo a few weeks ago. Click here to view. Check out my sweet rainbow pic :D

if you ever wondered

how to make a 'beverage can stove' go here. Oh wikihow, how great you are. There's lots of great stuff on there, I can see myself wasting a lot of time learning how to do/make stuff that I will never make.

So despite the one girl that works once a week trying to boss me around on the day that she is there, my little barista job is working out pretty well. I have been picking up extra shifts, making delicious coffees, and I even got paid time and half on monday for the "queen's birthday" (which is supposedly actually in april...) In order to make up for the extra pay that employees get, we had to charge the customers an extra 10% on all purchases. It was weird, but luckily easy math (the registers aren't capable of it apparently). Oh and also, since I work the closing shift, I get to take home lots of food that doesn't get sold (like pies, bread and desserts). This also means, less grocery shopping for me. Hurray! I hate grocery shopping here, it is so stressful. On top of having to decide what to buy and what brand to choose, I have to decide if the item is worth the price (and everything just seems SO expensive!) So yeah! free food :D

Not much else has been going on here besides work. No knitting. However, blue gave me a gift certificate to a local knitting store. Maybe I'll pick out some inspirational yarn this weekend to get me going again.


Here is a picture of some trees to demonstrate how autumn like it is here. Very windy (and chilly) today.

A decade of birthdays

On Friday I will be 27 and was thinking about where I have spent the last 10 years on my birthday, here goes...

17th W.R.
18th Rhinie
19th Minneapolis
20th Madison or Canada (I can't recall)
21st Portugal
22nd Spain
23rd Madison
24th Rhinie
25th Rhinie (I think I was at home visiting)
26th Charleston
27th New Zealand!

There are a few internationals in there, but Rhinie wins. What can I say, mom makes a good cake!
Not sure what blue has planned for me this year, hopefully a nice dinner and maybe we'll go out for drinks (gasp!).

After 21 years of education...

I am now learning to make the coffee that fueled me through the last years of that education, that's right I'm a barista. The place I am working at is only a few blocks from the house, so it is nice that I can walk. It is also a bakery/ pie shop (mostly of the meat and veggie variety) and I have already been given a bunch of food to bring home, which is pretty good. But blue and I decided that we will probably get fat if I keep bringing the stuff home. Not to worry, this is just a temporary means of bringing in some extra cash while I search for a more appropriate sciency position.

So the internet works differently. Ok the internet works the same I think, but how they charge you for it is different. We now pay per usage, how much we upload/download. We have 1G/month and after that it goes to dialup speed I guess. But I think we can change it so we just pay for high speed after our allotment, I don't really get it, but 1G of broadband here isn't any more than unlimited back home. However, I have to be more frugal with my usage, I already miss watching all my shows online :( That is also my explanation for lack of pics, I don't really know how much of the usage they will take up, but I know that it is way more than emails and text only blog entries (plus blue has all the pics on his computer).

I have been working on the smell of the house, thanks to a tip from my mom. I have been simmering diluted vineager and it has definately improved the house smell, but I think I could use some flowers or something with a good smell to at least temporarily overpower it completely.

On sports

Apparently there is a real sport called netball, it is not just something made-up by blue to mess with me. AND after looking into, it was invented in the states, but huge in NZ, australia, jamaica, britain and a few others. From what I can tell, blue summed up this sport best - sexist basketball. It is only played by women and there is no contact (or backboard) and consequently lots of whistles.
Rugby is another sport that is constantly on TV, it is kind of fun to watch because it is always just mayhem, but I still don't quite understand all the rules. I do like when they kick field goals while running and when they pass it to themselves by kicking it way ahead and then running after it.
I think my favorite new sport to watch is sailing, the americas cup has been going on in venice and the NZ team is in the semifinals so they cover it pretty well (it is on in the mornings when I am waking up).
The worst part about sports in NZ (besides having ones I don't care about dominate all the channels) is that I am not getting my full dose of tennis (or much at all). I only catch the outcomes on the news, apparently tennis isn't as popular here :(
Yeah, they really like their sports here, they are constantly on TV, as are infommercials for proactive and for whatever that work out thing is chuck norris totes.

Additionally

- our car beeps when we put it in reverse (only on the inside, but effectively annoying)
- electric kettles are amazing and faster than lightning (i'm gonna have to get one when I come back to the states)
- small sinks, especially kitchen sinks, makes dishwashing more cumbersome than usual
- people here leave out articles, for example 'I need to go to the hospital' becomes 'I need to go to hospital'
- my house reeks of curry and when I leave the house I can smell it on my clothes (blech)

10 observations in NZ:

1. Everything is expensive
2. People like to say cool (coo') A LOT
3. There are no dried beans in the grocery stores (or not the 3 that I have checked)
4. Cookies are called biscuits and come in strange varieties, like chocolate wheat
5. Tire is spelled tyre
6. Super markets have large sections of dog food rolls (think jimmy dean or gimme lean breakfast sausage)
7. There is no central heating, heat pumps are prevalent, but they aren't like the heat pumps in the south, usually just a unit in the main part of the house
8. There are a lot of americans here, A LOT
9. The only native mammals are bats (not kidding, check it out)
10. It is beautiful here!

this list is bound to get much larger, I can already think of at least five more off the top of my head. Instead of add them, I am going to post a pic of Lake Pukaki, a glacial lake from our weekend adventure

N ZED

We are now a little more settled here in NZ (they say that n, zed). After buying our car last week we were able to find a suitable place to live, in Lincoln, just a mile away from blue's school. It is a sleepy little town, but has everything you need (not everything you want). There is a post office, a butcher, a hardware store, a grocery store, 2-3 hair salons, 2 cafes, a library, a gas station, oh, and lawn bowling. I don't think we will stay here for the entirety of our visit. But in order to for us to be able to afford higher rent/the commute, I will need to be employed/bringing in some bacon.
We haven't gotten the chance to take a lot of photos yet, but the one above is our little car and the port hills to our east in the background.
It is really beautiful here. We live in a very flat, agricultural part of the country. There are lots of sheep, deer, horses, and crops to be seen, all divided by beautiful hedgerows. I will put up some pics of our place and some of the local sites on flickr for your viewing pleasure.
We also have a phone and the internet now so I should be better at staying connected with everyone back home... hopefully. :D

it's 8pm...

and feels like 2am. The last two nights I fell asleep at 5pm... and slept until 6am. Guess I needed some extra sleep. The most amazing part about this journey to the other side of the world is that we totally skipped May 6, 2007. It never existed. We left Chicago on May 5 and arrived in NZ (24 hours later) on May 7. So for all of you back in the states, I am living in the future and if you ever need to know any future stuff (more next day type questions rather than 10 years from now inquiries), just let me know.

There are lots of cute things going on here in NZ, like instead of expiration date, people and forms say expiry date (I have heard that they are keen on shortening words and adding a y to the end...). Also there are a few new (to me) coffee drinks available, long black and flat white. The long black is pretty good and just a larger, slightly weaker espresso drink (although if you are in a hurry, the short black is better suited). The flat white... I have no idea sounds to me like some sort of cafe au lait though. Also you pretty much have to pay for absolutely everything, especially in the hotel we are staying in. Oh, except for the shuttle, a bus that runs a strip in the downtown area and is free, hurray!

Driving (or for me - riding) on the opposite side of the road is also an adventure. The hardest part to grasp is when you are turning left (which would be like turning right in the US) you have to yield to oncoming traffic turning right (that is the opposite of what the rule is in the US). Also crossing streets while walking has proven a little more difficult (or maybe stressful is a better term), I haven't figured out what part of the street to look for traffic heading my way, I just look a lot on in both directions to make sure nobody is going to hit me.

Yeah, things are a little backwards down here near middle earth, but with a little more time and a little more sleep, I think we will be just fine.

The week I have been waiting for

Events that I have been waiting for (for about four months) have finally transpired this week. After many trials and tribulations with various governments and governmental agencies, blue and I have finally received our work visas to go to New Zealand. So we finally started packing and are trying to tie up all loose ends here (which is still overwhelming even though I have been trying to work on that for the last 4 months). Blue just booked our flight today and we are flying out of Chicago on Saturday which means that we will get to NZ Monday morning.

One of the major loose ends that I have successfully tied up is finishing my thesis. Hurray I am a Master, a master of science!!! I am still working on formatting changes, which is a task I would not wish on anyone. There are so many little nit picky things that are a huge pain, mostly because word is stupid. But I hope to send in my last version tomorrow (but it probably still won't be right and they will send it back to me again...).

My mom also came down with pneumonia this week so I have been playing nurse and errand runner for her. She is finally feeling good enough to get out of bed today, she had quite a few rough days at the beginning of the week, poor mom. I was pretty relieved when her fever finally broke.

So, yeah, this week has been busy and stressful which is why all of my resent posts are just little blurbs. And I will most likely be really busy packing and settling into NZ for the next few weeks. However, I will have lots of time on the plane to knit :D Today was the first warm day all week so mom, kitty and I sat outside and watched the chipmunks.

mmm monsters

Your Monster Profile

Behemoth Enigma You Feast On: Pickles You Lurk Around In: The Empire State Building You Especially Like to Torment: Republicans

What's Your Monster Name?

* I found this on my friend's blog and wanted to play :)

Finally spring!

This morning I was awakened to the sound of a loon on the lake. It was such a beautiful way to wake up. I don't think it was our regular inhabitant, but instead a migrant passing through. Later this afternoon I saw one flying above the lake. They have such a unique flight silhouette, definitely more designed for swimming, rather than flying.
The arrival of loons is a sign that spring is finally arriving in the northwoods. Pretty soon there will be trilliums scattering the forest floor and spring bulbs popping up around the yard! We get the warmth and color a little later here than most places, but that makes it all the better when it finally gets here!

Round up the kids, it's time for ice cream

This is one of my favorite pieces of local eye candy. It makes me giggle a little every time I drive by it.

R.I.P.

stash enhancement

The knitting front has been a little slow lately, but the up side of that is that thesis productivity has gone way up. I recently ordered some lorna's laces sock yarn from this ebay store front. Her prices were pretty good and shipping (which is usually the clincher for me) was reasonable. I tried to pick a different color combo than I wouldn't normally (no blue or brown!) and think that when I get to it, this yarn will make some perty socks.
I am loving the artful yarns sock yarn I am currently making Roza's socks out of. I have one sock done and I am half done with the leg of the other sock.
The rest of the yarn is from the herrschner's retail store that I stopped at a few weeks ago and couldn't resist some of the bargain prices (I went in for the orange wool, came out with lots of sale yarn). But it was a nice bounty for $18.

It's snowing

The lake opened a week ago and it hasn't snowed in weeks.
However, we are now under a winter storm warning.
I think we will only get a couple of inches.
StitchK- I don't want to hear about how nice the beach is :-/