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2009-11-19T12:46:00.000+13:00

The differences between nz and Britain:

1) in new Zealand I go to work. In England I go to Christmas markets.

2) in new Zealand our currency is the nz$. in England the currency is the £. I sometimes forget about conversion rates and think I am getting a bargain. Eg £12 lunch does not actually equal a bargain.

3) in new Zealand you can catch a train to Johnsonville. In England you can catch trains to places you've only dreamed about. Like Wales. Or Birmingham (note: I have not been to Wales, that was a hypothetical).

4) in new Zealand you have two choices for winter coats: max or the Kingston coat factory. In England they are everywhere. Which is how I ended up with a new duffle despite trying to limit what I buy so it will be easier to catch trains through Europe.

5)in new Zealand ice skating is restricted to remote parts of the south island and dorkland. In England you can see ice skaters in every town. Which is why I am going to hell. Ice skaters bring me so much joy it must be sinful.

There are lots more differences of course. Like how the tv is different in each country. But I will skip to telling you how I am having a great time. York is my favourite place so far but Manchester sti has a couple of days to win me over.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eating as donating

2009-11-13T03:13:00.000+13:00

I heart Liverpool. I arrived yesterday and fell instantly in love. You need a warm jacket for the weather and coping strategies for dealing with the beatles overload (my strategy is listening to the stone roses on my iPod). But those things aside Liverpool is a treat.

I arrived right in time for an armistice day service at st george's hall. It was actually quite moving, and I confess that like the oldies next to me I had a tear in my eye. War sux.

It is also strangely moving just being in Liverpool. Grandma was born here and I have the address. But am sort of avoiding going. I am being overly sentimental about it I think, which I put down to the worst jet lag I have had yet (only sleeping 2/4 nights I have been in the country plus not sleeping on the flight here - well at least not sleeping much - I normally adjust much quicker than this).

Actually this tiredness it pretty stink. I have bursts of energy in the morning that die by lunchtime. But the fringe benefit is that today I am treating myself with what is rumoured to be a Michelin star quality lunch. Which has the added benefit of supporting my favourite museum in Liverpool: the maritime.

This afternoon, once I finish my lunch, I am headed to explore the rest of Albert docks. I understand there is a beatles museum and a boat tour. I am more interested in the latter. But the former is free. And since I haven't yet got the bill for lunch, I am guessing that free will mean the price is right. And afterall, I have just spent the last half an hour diligently supporting Liverpool museums.

I am such a patron of the arts.

-- Posted from my iPhone

Manx

2009-11-10T18:43:00.000+13:00

I am in Manchester. 1st impression: good. No small feat since I arrived exhausted. Hrc though played the excellent hostess, providing a home cooked meal then taking me to the Hilton bar for cocktails. And unlike the first time I came to England, this time I didn't fall down any steps afterwards.

Yesterday, my first day proper, involved a walking tour of Manx. The stationery!!!!!!! I have bought enough postcards for you all to get five each and I don't plan to stop. The other highlight was the food. The English know comfort food. Bacon butties, fish finger sandwiches, apple pies. All punctuated with pots of delicious tea.

We also hit the high street. I wanted a winter coat. There is lots of choice and I have some finalists but trying things on when you have hundreds of layers on is not an exciting prospect. I ignored that though when it came on to trying on my new panda sweater. Thank you top shop for your mass produced awesome.

And I rode on the Manchester eye. Or ferris wheel or whatever. That was also awesome. In part for the view and in part for the unhelpful voice over telling you what you could see, even when you were at the bottom of the wheel and could actually only see the ticket booth. Highly comical.

Today has begun kind of sux though since it is five AM and I am wide awake. And have been for like an hour. Bloody body clock. I am sure today will be aces. Cos it will involve museum gift shops. But right now: my kingdom for two or three more hours of sleep.

Posted from my iPhone

Holiday rituals

2009-11-07T17:02:00.001+13:00

When I go on vacay I have a host of rituals. Buying a new molskine. Overpacking. And my favourite: sitting in Wellington airport's koruclub blogging.

This vacation might be the best yet. And it involves the longest long haul ever. Thirty five hours or something. I struggle to do the math. But I take great comfort in two things: the first is the flight control iPhone app. The second is my travel wallet.

If only I had this wallet when I went to visit al in Westport. If I had then maybe I wouldn't have missed my plane by three hours and been forced to pay $350 for a twenty five minute flight the next day.

Also, if you follow me on Twitter (and you should cos I'm hilarious in 140 characters or less on a regular basis) you will already know about how I have a third reason to be confident I can manage the long haul..... Business class. Those years of airnz loyalty have paid off with something tangible at last.

Anyway, they are bringing out fresh food in the lounge and I would not want to miss out. But keep checking back. I am doubtless going to be sitting next to a celeb in business class and you would not want to miss the update.

**update**

Now in dorkland. Zero celebs. Which reminds me how some of my friends met Paris Hilton on their last holiday. Of course I saw Craig Parker when I went to Samoa so I am not without my own celbrity anecdotes.

Also, I am doing lots of stretches and am drinking beer- guaranteed to make me sleepy.

**update 2**

In hong kong. Best part of business class was that the stewards acted like they really cared for my welfare. They basically forced chocolate bars on me when they accidentally woke me up. If only my neighbour Sarah would do that everytime she plays lady gaga at three in the morning.

The downsides of business class are basically related to how it ended. Have to go back and sit with the paupers from here to heathrow. Also - apart from how I sort of got some sleep it wasn't actually enough.
-- Posted from my iPhone

2009-11-02T22:36:00.004+13:00

pretty much the greatest thing ever invented is flight control.

this is a stock image. fyi, my high score is MUCH higher than 15

flight control is an application on my iphone that lets me play air traffic controller. i am so john cusack in pushing tin. and we all know, even in a lesser movie john cusack is always awesome.

i bought flight control because it gets good ratings as a game to play on an plane. and i am all about hot tips for in flight entertainment, since on saturday i'm embarking on EUROPE 09.

europe 09 is set to be the best holiday yet. lots of friend time. lots of me time. lots of train time. and not a moment too soon because wellington 09 has not been the thrill a minute i'd been hoping for. on the upside, wellington 09 has meant spanish tapas night at liquidate. my new monday tradition. so i can't complain too much.

anyway with the prospect of europe 09 comes the prospect of more blogging from me. get your rss feeds primed and ready to go. because, in the immortal words of michael jordan: i'm back.

2009-07-10T13:38:00.002+12:00

i never blog anymore. mostly cos of twitter to be honest. which is obviously a cliche.

i only communicate in 140 characters these days.

such as:

i am going to melbourne. lucky ahe?

i am listening to a lot of MJ at mo'. esp thriller. reminds me of sleepovers in the 80s.

i spent too much money in the last 48 hours. so much for recessionbudget.

i have a snotty nose. hope i can still get thru border control.

2009-06-01T19:49:00.003+12:00

i'm still alive and stuff. just too cold to think out a blog post fully. even this one is squeezed in between dinner and going to a movie.

what really inspired me to actually blog today was kind of jeff buckley. who has prompted a post from me before. but anyway i was watching the amazing grace documentary on saturday night (being a thirty something, having an early night). and there was this excerpt from his diary that was along the line that he wrote music for people who scream down the highway, listening to loud music, with tears in their eyes. which made me feel ill because of that time i listened to cold play and got all weapy.

but then today i was driving home from levin, where i'd spent my morning looking for an open cafe (fyi i don't really recommend the old railway station as a back up cafe) and then swimming in the swimming pool with the coolest four year old in history. driving along listening to my ipod on shuffle, when what comes on but kenny roger's reuben james. and i start to get all weapy again because IT IS ONLY THE GREATEST SONG OF ALL TIME....

the first concert i ever went to was kenny. i was five. for most of my life i think that my father has had a kenny rogers look to him (the beard thing). we used to watch kenny on the tele as a family. and goshdarn it if my parents don't still fight over how my dad has taken kenny's greatest hits out of the living room and into his car without consultation. so i have a kenny soft spot anyway, but seriously a song about a no-count share croppin' coloured man, who didn't turn his back on a hungry white child with no name. it will bring me to tears everytime.

2009-05-14T17:49:00.003+12:00

i wish samoa was all mine. not mine as in a colony or something. just mine as in my special secret. because the fact that other people who are not me are in samoa right now and enjoying it is literally breaking my heart.

i only got back this afternoon. the wounds of leaving are still fresh.

i would like to retain some mystery so you're not going to get a blow by blow account. needless to say every minute was awesome. even when it involved you being herded like cattle by police. POLICE. in the best uniforms ever by the way.

one of the things about samoa is you can always swim. ALWAYS. here i am on one of my first days in samoa. heading to the beach. taking to the lifestyle like a duck to water.

some of you* will be getting awesome postcards from me. samoa is filled to the brim with awesome postcards. anyway, i won't spoil those. but apia was SURPRISINGLY EXHAUSTING. i was offered about a thousand $10 lava lava. and had my bag checked at the grocery store. i looked suss. obviously. walking down the street took it out of you something chronic. thank god i was staying on the other side of the island. at a resort that offered afternoon tea every day at three.

at the end of the day though, it is the natural beauty of samoa that was the breathtaking part. like the waterfalls. the WATERFALLS.

this one is on upolu. after taking this photo a man made us coconut cream from scratch. touristy? yes. but he wasn't a tour guide. so there.

this one is on savai'i. we told ourselves it was the waterfall from the king kapisi video clip. but i was told otherwise by one of my new boyfs. and while i believed him MOSTLY at the time i've looked at the video clip again, and he was right. you can watch it here. and incidentally everything in this video clip i basically saw.

oh yeah, and in samoa there are lots of boys dying to flirt with you. honest to goodness. if you're lucky they will make you feel like a teenager again. leaving you giggling at the message they sent you via their babyfaced friend and having to sneak into your fale drunk on the excitement. and on the vailima. and maybe the whiskey too if i'm being honest. oh the boys! how many hearts did i break in the past week? heaps.

the biggest heart break is my own. i've fallen hard for samoa. and i won't hear a thing against it. and staying at a resort, which initially worried me, turns out to be the only way to live. refer to afternoon tea comment above. on my last day i lay on the beach and read. and slept. and listened to my ipod. and looked up at this....

and tried not to think too much about what i was leaving behind. and the characters i'd met. and the unexpected delights everywhere (like watching the sound of music on the ferry from savai'i to upolu and having a number of cute singalong moments with the guy next to me). and the bananas. have you had the bananas? like honestly they are the best thing in the world apart from samoa. and my new favourite song, i choose you. which i hope pumps in the apia clubs for years to come.

* not all of you though. my hotel ran out of stamps and the postoffice that was meant to be open until midday closed at eleven. for no apparent reason. samoa forever.

2009-04-21T21:35:00.002+12:00

so i'm boycotting the dancing with the stars finale. but this is no political move. merely negligence on my part. for the second time today i forgot it was on. the ex internet dater said something scandalous today about her doubts that it will be renewed for 2010 due to a lack of celebrities. but that is so entirely untrue because new zealand is filled to the brim with people i would like to see tango and foxtrot and whatnot.

so here it is, my top eight new zealand celebrities that i would like to see on dwts.

1. nick tansley.

he already does standup in the ad breaks for the live studio audience, so he'd have a bit of an advantage. i don't think it will help though. he'll be elminated in the first week.

2. catherine mcpherson. the best ever host of what now? it would be great to see her and jase reunited. basically catherine has no internet presence but she was the one who hosted in the simon barnett era. if she isn't available suggest inspector sniff or frank flash. could go the distance to the grand final.

3. ben lummis.

i would be worried about the hip gyration that marked his idol performances - but that was mostly just poor choreography. when paired with krystal stewart though this shouldn't be a problem. he'll be elminated week four or five.

4. jeff wilson. i met him multiple times. and owned his 'autobiography'. my fifteen year old self was obsessed. now at thirty it has strangely worn off. still i think he'd be worth a go. but would undoubtedly be eliminated week two.

5. robin reynolds. she slept with robbie williams, before our rachel. and ran to the tabloids. officially making it new zealand's proudest day. she needs more time in the spotlight. but won't be in the final.

6. darren hughes, mp.

i'm following him on twitter. he is a bit dry. but could be the next rodney hide. guaranteed giggles. but perhaps he will just prove to be a kiwi battler and blow the competition out of the water. until week three or four.

7. one or both of the evers swindells. they are famous to the maximum. and unlike that mahe drysdale don't drink the water and get giardia the day before the BIG RACE. strong finishers, i think they will struggle but pull through to be in the top half of the competition.

8. paired with steffano judy bailey would be a shoe in for the final. this doesn't even need explanation.

others have tried making lists. like here. but frankly, mine is the best. because noone wants to see more of mark sainsbury than they already do. frankly.

2009-04-12T21:13:00.004+12:00

...a long and indulgent post on how i met ethan hawke....

on wednesday i went to dorkland. to see the killers. but frankly, somehow, i'd almost forgotten about the killers in my planning, because i was so fixated on how i desperately needed to be a lady of leisure. sometimes you just need to get your groove back. you know what i'm saying?

to cut a long story short: success.

to cut a medium length story long, i hadn't really eaten dinner before the killers on wednesday night. just lukewarm chips from the venue. so afterwards i was starved. but also i couldn't eat. because i sometimes get waves of horrible as i think that maybe brandon flowers and i will NOT be together for a moment, let alone forever. so i ended up fulfilling essentially my OTHER life's ambition by eating in the bright green korean place on the corner of queen street and mayoral drive. and it wasn't too bad. the korean television show that was on took my mind temporarily off brandon.

the next morning we got up early for a swim and jacuzzi. the langham, where we were staying, is the best dorkland hotel i've ever had. top notch. anyway, after the health club morning, we ate breakfast and then went to mt eden. if you know mt eden, you'll think we were nuts. but on the airport bus it looks so hip and happening. it must have been the confusing dusk light though. because it was a bit of a fail. but at least we got a cup of tea at a chain cafe and mistaken for students. the latter is the impressive bit. given i'm now thirty mumble.

anyway, next stop (after a hail storm) was equipoise in herne bay. so good i fell asleep i think. i can't be entirely sure. it was all a blur of aromatherapy and relaxation. which, while dealing to the stress i carry in my shoulders also served to remind us that we were starved. so after a trip to $3Japan (my vote for auckland city top shop) we went to a hole in the wall japanese place on elliot street. for noodles and gyoza. at some point hrc mentions that she saw this ad for a play or something that had some guy who looks like ethan hawke in it. i'm all like "it IS ethan hawke". because tv 3 cannot leave him alone, so i've picked up the knowledge by osmosis. we also looked at my $3Japan purchases. the pens were not as good as i'd hoped, but otherwise it was cute overload.

then we hit the liquor.

here we are at honey. the cocktail is a honeyberry sour. the taste is delicious. and the company sublime. there is nothing like talking about microwaved ham, stefano oliveri's mouth and the dorkland super city. we had like a hundred cocktails. it was awesome.

then we left honey. the token male of the group left the girls to fight a fire. LITERALLY. as in a bin was on fire. we rang the fire service. and took a lot of photos. one of the fire men asked us if we started it. we giggled (barely, compared to how we were soon to giggle, but at the time it seemed like school girl behaviour) and the fireman pointed his hose at us and turned it on. just a bit. we were untouched by the water. unlike the rubbish bin, which he expertly doused. such a hero.

after the rubbish bin inferno there was nothing for it but mexican food. on the waterfront. where somehow al rationalised it was better to pay for a hostel than go back to waiheke. so we headed up the hill to the langham and watched episodes of brideshead revisited until we fell asleep (which didn't take long, refer to cocktails above).

friday was waiheke day. there was a queue for the ferry. so we took basically the first seats, near the gangplank. and watched people come on. apparently, ethan hawke had already been to waiheke. feeling stink that we'd missed a star encounter we played this game where every man that came on the boat we'd nudge each other and say "there's ethan". it was hilarious.

until ethan hawke walked onto the ferry and ruined it.

he went upstairs. and for the next half an hour i was in hysterics. i couldn't read. i couldn't look at the view. i couldn't do anything but think of reality bites trivia. and wipe the tears from my eyes.

in the last five minutes of the ferry ride we couldn't handle it anymore. and decided to "see the view from the top". we found a position right next to ethan. and promptly began to laugh nervously and uncontrollably.

you know what i learned about myself in those minutes: i'm an opportunist. so when it came time to disembark, i lined up directly behind him. basically touching his brushed cotton shirt. almost holding his hand on the rails. and actually snorting and unable to hold it together.

once we finally got off the boat, i made hrc pose for a photo but hello, it wasn't about her. it was all about ethan....

i'm telling myself ethan's fist has nothing to do with being photographed. and btw: hottie alert!

and then we spent the next four hours on waiheke laughing uncontrollably and wondering what ethan was doing. we ate a small seventy dollar a head lunch at mudbrick. and i hoped that at any moment he would walk in....

he didn't.

on waiheke we went to al's bedsit, we read (or attempted to) and we visited beaches and patted dogs. we also talked a LOT about ethan hawke. we called him ed. to be less obvious. and my stomach was in pain from the laughing.

back at the ferry terminal we thought it was too unlikely we'd have the good fortune to be on the same ferry as ed. so we played the "there's ethan" game again. hrc spotted some dude and was all like "he's familiar". i dismissed him as a former melody rules star: then it hit me - it was principal charleston from gilmore girls. this was almost too much to take. although al also thought she saw chandler from friends. so some of our guesses were WAY off.

as we walked to the ferry to line up we looked back and lo! ethan was buying coffee. we became hysterical again. once on the ferry we tried calming down. al was the best but me and hrc were hopeless cases. especially when principal charleston sat in direct view. but it gets worse! or better? ethan hawke sits directly opposite me.

albeit one table away, but nothing obstructed our views of eachother. i stared a bit. thank god for sunglasses (which by the way become unplausible at six thirty in the evening so had to come off after a time).

after a time of pretending to read, it became obvious that ethan was doing the cross word and was stuck on a question. he was asking his cast mates (who were also on the ferry, including dakin matthews and sinead cusack) the questions. but we had resourcefulness in our favour. and cellphones. so it was all lined up when ethan leaned across his table, looked me straight in the eyes and said

"do you know new zealand's largest cattle station".

you know what i learned about myself in these moments: i cope well under pressure. so i can't walk off a gangplank with him but i can answer his questions directly and charmingly.

i admit that i've been listening to his conversation and have been thinking about it. "i think it's molesworth".

there is near tragedy when he asks if it is north or south island ("god only knows" i'm thinking). but a simple 'south of here' kind of sort of covers me. although al and hrc probably have different opinions. we talk about fort worth. or something, it is a blur. and he thanks me for playing a part in completing his crossword.

the ferry ride is over in a flash and i'm mourning it. until, as we are disembarking together for the second time that day, ethan comes up to me and says that his 100% completed cross word is all due to me. ME. i tell him i'm proud of him. he tells me he's proud of me. it's what you'd call our bit. or shtick.

at this point al takes over and i go into a haze. who knows what happens but somehow we end up across the street. ed-less. when ethan catches up with us again. as in troy dyer hastened his pace to catch up with me. ME. i won't bore you with details but he mentioned his hotel room. okay, i will bore you, he wanted to know where to buy poker chips because he wanted to play poker in his room. still, awesome ahe?

btw during this entire three part conversation hrc says nothing.

but once we lose ethan we all break back into hysterics, and are exhausted from holding it together as long as we did. we go back to the langham and sit in the jacuzzi trying to list the other hollywood stars we would feel this way about (keanu reeves only, although i also think maybe ewan mcgregor could almost make up the holy trinity - people considered but not admitted to the trinity include will smith and brad pitt by reason of them being too famous. but also thank god i haven't met will smith. he owes me $15 and two hours of my life after seven pounds).

the end. there is unfortunately no post script. except how al went to see his play the next day. sadly, hrc and i had to fly back to wellington. so missed it. apparently it was very very good.

you know what else was very very good? everything about ethan hawke. he is so my fallback guy if me and brandon don't work out. and he is charminger, hotter and sexier voiced than you can imagine.

2009-04-11T22:15:00.002+12:00

so anyway, dorkland is my new favourite town. i have so much to tell you about it but it will have to wait for another day as i've just spent my precious time on a review of the killers here.

i adore brandon flowers and take exception to the hearld referring to him as a dan carter lookalike. seriously. that is the worst insult i've heard so far.

but whatever, me and brandon forever.

2009-04-05T21:08:00.002+12:00

good lord. now i'm thirty all i want to do is sleep. i'm not even attempting to be funny. it is just the way it is.

i am awesome at sleeping. so, being thirty continues to rule.

anyway, here are the other eleven things rocking my world at this exact point in time:

1. trivia. so today i watched two episodes of brideshead revisted (1981, bbc). frankly, it was awesome. and i'm so IN to the guy who plays sebastian.

if i owned this photo i'd totoally put a watermark all over it too. sebastian flyte AND royalty. it is photographic GOLD.

so to the trivia.... did you know remington steel was created for him, but he TURNED IT DOWN. god bless him too. because that is directly responsible for last year's greatest movie moment. sigh.

2. l'occitane shower gel. seriously, you should get some of this. it is like crack. for your skin. i can't find an image of it on the line. the l'occitane online store for nz doesn't seem to have it. so i'm linking you to a site i in no way endorse. here. anyway, i figure if you spend more than $30 on shower gel you are simply a better class of person. i am therefore, closer to god as a result of this purchase.

3. no-no-notorious b.i.g. have you seen the movie notorious? you really should see it. 7/10. you should also buy going back to cali from itunes. it is my new favourite song. well that plus let's get it on. the latter thanks to catching two minutes of idol this week. it was motown week on idol. but that doesn't qualify it for my list of eleven things.

4. mexicana breakfast from pranah. it is really good.

5. safety message. like in this poster i just bought from etsy dot com. i can barely wait to see if it is as awesome in real life as it is on the internet.

6. thorndon summer pool. it closes this thursday so you should hurry up and visit. i went today. it was not especially warm. so i retired to the spa instead. and sat there for like an hour. it was thoroughly exhausting. and awesome, obviously. six dollars well spent.

7. ryles, singing TI's "whatever you like" to me over the phone. i am so in love with my nephews. they are adorable. and will get spoiled at easter. if i have my way that is.

8. this website. which is where i got the number eleven for my list today. it combines two of my passions: lists and lauding music knowledge over people.

9. massage. i had a hot stone massage this week. i thought i might pass out from bliss midway through it. it was a gift from my team at work. and it is safe to say, best work gift ever.

10. neon tiger by the killers.

you know i'm going to see them this wednesday night ahe? i actually realised earlier today that i have so deified brandon flowers that i may vomit when he comes on stage and proves to be merely a man. a hot man, but still only flesh and bone and a killer smile.

11. the internet. for reasons like this.

2009-03-28T18:48:00.002+13:00

now that i'm thirty i'm a different person. i have a different favourite cocktail: delovely martini from hawthorne lounge. and a different favourite song:

the favourite song thing happened last night when i went to see kings of leon. for my review, click here.

2009-03-26T23:40:00.004+13:00

guess who thinks thirty is awesome? me

i love thirty because at thirty you can wear your slippers in to town. you can get a deluxe massage and drink coffee with the ex internet dater like you are a lady of leisure. at thirty you can demand the women at the mac counter give you a make over. and at thirty you can buy yourself treats like stationery and manicures. and you can eat chocolate cake in the sun at the dowse. so basically what i'm saying is thirty is THE age to be.

apart from how i have some kind of romantic love for all of my friends right now, i'm so madly in love with my family that i might actually explode. in fact that is why i have a headache right now. thinking about their choiceness is making my head hurt. they threw me a surprise party. sure, there were awkward moments. but mostly not. mostly there were gifts and gossip. and family jokes being shared left right and centre. and handmade gifts from ryles (it was a volcano. apparently). and it was all topped off with a sound of music birthday cake. ie perfection.

tomorrow i will come crashing down to earth. well, perhaps i will. i also think there is a chance i will hook up with one of the kings of leon at their concert on friday night, thus beginning my thirties as a shameless groupie. the next robin reynolds if you will. new zealand will have cause to be proud.

good lord, me turning thirty will probably be not just good for me but for all of new zealand. this is a truly magical day.

2009-03-25T19:43:00.004+13:00

oh cruel time! how you have marched on so swift! one day i was like twenty two and the next day i'm like STARING DOWN THE DARK, COLD, BARREL OF THIRTY. eek.

here is how i look on my last day of my twenties.

dreary.

well not really, that dreary feeling is more internalised.

anyway, even despite the dreary feeling, i'm on a high.

this weekend i had a party. sort of. the sort of is to emphasise that i only invited like thirteen people. turns out it is a lucky number because my party was AWESOME. as was my singstar singing. i've convinced people in my team that i need to show them just how good i am and so i'm taking my playstation to work on friday. well at least that is the story. i might chicken out. because (secretly)... i'm crap. plus by then i will be thirty. positively middle aged. it could be quite sad to watch now i think about it.

tomorrow i'm taking the day off. so i do not have to go around passively aggressively demanding everyone take note of The Occassion. it is a weight of my shoulders i tell you what. i'm also going to be a lady of leisure and buy myself little treats that LAUGH in the face of a recession. think mac beauty products and manicures.

the cherry on the top is family time. my mother has already reminded me the exact time i was born. needless to say, i'll be sleeping through the five thirty one am milestone. and my dad is being coy about our plans. i'm hoping the surprise involves my nephews. or ten pin bowling. or some serious ukelele lessons. have i mentioned i'm not very good.

anyway, right this instant i have to leave because i'm going to see notorious at the embassy in like fifteen minutes. i hope it helps me leave my twenties with a BANG.

2009-03-13T23:10:00.003+13:00

this is my last five things so i better make them good:

21. i am very untidy. i watched wife swap the other day and the house that was so dirty it made the swapped mother cry didn't look so bad to me. luckily for my flatmate i tend to keep my filth to the confines of my room.

22. i love jon stewart but hate seeing photos of him in 'casual' clothes.

he should stick to the corporate suited look. reoooowwww.

23. i hate making small talk in networking or party situations. but i'm so goddamn charming you probably never knew. right (lie to me, it hurts less).

24. my mother once told me that she's never loved anyone more than she loves my nephews. i should have been hurt. but i kind of understand. they are what awesome would look like if it were two brothers.

25. hashbrowns. seriously. they are just about the best food ever invented.

2009-03-12T21:50:00.001+13:00

a while ago i got tagged in about a million facebook 25 things memes. time magazine dubbed it 25 things i didn't want to know about you. i've dubbed it a great way to fill my blog.

part four: 16 - 20

16. my quality of life has actually decreased since they stopped making new episodes of gilmore girls.

17. i don't have a fear of getting older, just a fear of not celebrating my birthday.

18. i wear sunglasses and my ipod on the bus in the morning without fail. it helps me to pretend i'm not really awake. but on rainy days people probably think i have a cataract.

19. i am probably the best freestyle dancer you know. essentially, i am the hot stepper.

20. i have promised myself i will make presents for five people this year. i pitty the lucky people who get my handmade goods. first up: my mum. cos i figure she's obliged to like it.

2009-03-11T21:40:00.000+13:00

a while ago i got tagged in about a million facebook 25 things memes. time magazine dubbed it 25 things i didn't want to know about you. i've dubbed it a great way to fill my blog.

part three: 11 through 15

11. i am struggling with the ukelele. who knew such an adorable instrument would be so infuriating.

12. the other day i was driving and fix you by coldplay came on the radio. that song sux. so i have no idea why i cried like a baby.

13. i have a major crush on new york.

14. i once thought a yellow oversized sweatshirt and purple oversized trackpants equalled high fashion when paired with a green flannel shirt.

15. before when i said coldplay's fix you came on the radio, i lied. it was on my ipod.

2009-03-10T21:29:00.002+13:00

a while ago i got tagged in about a million facebook 25 things memes. time magazine dubbed it 25 things i didn't want to know about you. i've dubbed it a great way to fill my blog.

part two: 6 through 10

6. i used to say my favourite colour was green cos i once read that john lennon's favourite colour was green. i was 14. and impressionable.

7. i don't actually have a favourite colour.

8. ten years ago when i imagined my life now it involved wearing suede jackets and spending a lot of time in antique stores. i was middle aged before my time basically.

9. i have a mental block when it comes to president obama's first name. like i genuinely struggle to remember it. like i'm struggling right now. i have no explanation.

10. i would like martinis to be my signature drink. but realistically it is probably soda water.

2009-03-09T23:02:00.005+13:00

a while ago i got tagged in about a million facebook 25 things memes. time magazine dubbed it 25 things i didn't want to know about you. i've dubbed it a great way to fill my blog.

part one: facts 1 through 5.

1. i got lost in the maize maze on saturday. and what helped me to survive is remembering a jem episode where they stay at a mansion and there is a maze and one of the tricks is to touch a wall and never take your hand off it until you get to the end. god bless rio (unrelated, but true).

2. one of the best days of my life was when my dad brought home izzy, the greatest dog that ever lived. i was ten.

3. i talk up my singstar ability. to put it another way, i'm probably not as good as i've told you i am.

4. last christmas, by wham! is one of the greatest songs i've ever heard.

5. i genuinely can't decide which is better: chocolate or lime milkshakes.

2009-03-07T07:54:00.003+13:00

best use of a lunch break ever.

materials:
*four old and tatty folders
*the woodland-appropriate creatures you've collected unwittingly in your office over the past three years
*scissors
*sticky tape
*childlike enthusiasm

i am so pleased with how my desk looks now. i am *slightly* worried though that it may get in the way of working. but i'm prepared to make that compromise.

2009-03-01T20:49:00.003+13:00

last night i dined in the clouds. basically. which leads me to declare waiheke my most favourite small island and te whau my favourite vineyard.

this is what it looks like.

i have photos of being a booze hound over dinner but this is the koru club and i can't upload my photos. sadly for you. and sadly for you, unless you were AL you weren't there with me. to enjoy what USA today called one of the top five most memorable meals in 2007 and what NYC based magazine wine spectator called "one of the best restaurants in the world for wine lovers". recession? what recession? i'm still living like royalty!

the other thing about waiheke is that it is filled to the brim with characters. like the taxi driver who worked for the red hot chili peppers for 48 hours and tells me that flea still blames himself for river pheonix's death. and the other taxi driver who lives on the island because of the drugs but would give it all up to become a professional black jack player. and the couple who hold sculpture competitions on their lawn, but have a loose definition of sculpture (which is how a blue bowl filled with water and a yellow rubber duck qualifies as a sculpture).

waiheke has a community movie theatre that is basically identical to the one in gilmore girls.

so my life long ambition of going to such a theatre was fulfilled when i saw vicky cristina barcelona (8/10) on a rainy saturday afternoon.

anyway, my flight is FINALLY boarding. hurrah. more later.....

2009-02-18T22:54:00.003+13:00

so i'm back into the cinema in a big way. on monday i saw the best movie ever. milk. you have to see it. and i need to add watching james franco and sean penn hook in to each other to my list of turn ons.

the actors themselves were excited too:

sean penn texted madonna because he was so excited by kissing james franco (fyi breaking up with him was a big mistake madge. huge).

james franco talks about it at length with david letterman. and he also claims to have been in love with sean penn since the beaver trilogy. and guess what? me too. it is the 5th best movie ever (behind milk, sound of music, grease and high school musical three).

9/10

then tonight i saw changeling. angelina jolie needs to eat a goddamn pie. and the movie needs to be 45 minutes shorter. but it was totally watchable. better than the last jolie movie i saw. which was centred on a magic loom. 6.5/10

2009-02-15T17:38:00.003+13:00

today's post is dedicated to this guy. the grand duke of luxembourg, henri. today julia flies to luxembourg. not exactly to hangout with the grand duke. but it will probably happen because luxembourg is tiny. to quote wikipedia "Luxembourg has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi)."

half a million people AND a grand duke. those are good odds.

i also blame the grand duke for the state of my room. in short: ridiculous. i'm trying to find the perfect wedding outfit for next weekend. so naturally everything i own is balled up on the floor. i would have cleaned up after myself, but i'm too depressed about julia leaving.

luckily there is atomic to put the spring in your step. and in your shimmy. i probably saw you there actually. because EVERYONE who is ANYONE was there. but i ducked out for a malt shake about two and when i came back everyone was gone. luckily jo loves me. i know this because that's what her text said. and i also got some high fives.

today i comfort ate yum char and booked a trip to samoa. in your face grand duke. you're country of less than half a million will have to wait to get my hard earned cash. i'm all about tupua tamasese tuploa tufuga efi anyway.

now i'm lying on my bed trying to finish the invite to my birthday party. which fyi is going to be awesome. no thanks to the grand duke of friggen luxembourg who has stollen my party cohost. he's such a bitch.

2009-02-09T22:07:00.003+13:00

i am writing this as i sit in a central south island motel room watching csi miami. the south island is hot, mostly. we started on saturday with christchurch and rumours of another 40 degree day. which basically didn't happen. but, hey, any excuse for a sprinkler party. so we got into our togs and went nuts.

speaking of nuts, a road trip with your family is the most mental idea in history. the term over ambitious springs to mind. plus there have also been fights over the use of english. especially whether the instruction "veer right" means "turn right" or "go straight". needless to say, when your car rental company doesn't give you a map and you haven't yet bought an iphone with gps, this kind of conversation is pretty frequent. plus we haven't yet figured out the right grace period before we can make fun of this kind of hilarity. hence the near tears this morning as we were trying to get out of christchurch to head south.

on the up-side i probably get to feed wallabies tomorrow and my nephews are even more awesome the more you get to know them. plus the warehouse has cheap cds. which leads me to announce my new favourite song of all time:

barry white forever!