Little Glimpses of Happiness

You know the weekends that take forever to arrive and then they are over too fast? The long weekend that has just been (and gone) was one of those such weekends.

Mark went to Wellington to hang out with his family and Julia came up to Auckland from Wellington. Guess it is kind of like wife-swap with a twist.

Mark had a fabulous time as his sister, her husband and their gorgeous kids came over for a short visit. Judging by the 100+ photos that Mark took it looks like they all had an amazing time which included ten-pin bowling, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party, cake, pizza, more cake, party games etc.

Julia and I also had an incredible weekend that was packed to the limit with planned activities and impromptu things. We had a lot of salad, potato pom-poms, watched the Avengers, had Mexican, bought clothing/bras, had coffee/lunch with friends, discovered a great new French Cafe called 'petit bocal', saw my mum, ate cake, drank some alcohol, had a fleeting visit to the monthly Titirangi Market, played with kittens, saw Penny’s amazing new tattoos.

I even got Julia to watch ‘Pitch Perfect’; not sure if she was traumatised by that experience or not.

Sometimes weekends are little glimpses of happiness in an otherwise ordinary existence.

Cake. Coffee. Conversation. Weekends away rock!

Pirate Clip

I just had another lovely weekend away in Wellington!

There were lots of lovely conversations, food and drinking…..and LAUGHTER! Oh and not to mention the million metres of Christmas tinsel everywhere in the house!

On Saturday we had a relaxing start to the morning with a beautiful breakfast. ‘The Beard’ went to get supplies to make a new bird feeder.

Julia and I went out to Lower Hutt to catch up with a friend for coffee, cake and a quick loop around the Dowse Art Museum to look at some of the exhibitions.

Moths

I loved the ‘Invitation to Openness — Substantive and Transitive States’, by Wellington sculptor Elizabeth Thomson. It is hundreds of moths placed on the walls as if they had just landed there. It reminded me of the many puriri moths that I would see as a child growing up in the bush. I also really enjoyed looking at the 1970’s ‘Revolution in Fashion’ exhibition. I found that the light reflecting on the walls from the giant ‘translucent pyramid’ were more amazing than the pyramid itself. Also, loved the reflections on the wall Moniek Schrijer’s 'Earth is all we know' display.

Happy Cat

Then we went back to Anjuli’s and did some shopping from Sweet Designs and got some beautiful things. I bought some cute hairclips and I now have pirates, animals, crowns and robots to go with my UNICORN clips that she gave me. If you are looking for beautifully handmade gifts then please check out her Facebook page.

On Sunday ‘The Beard’ and I caught the last 35mins of rugby which was probably the most eventful of the entire game. Unfortunately, one of the cats had to go to the vet as his little face was swollen and made him look like a chipmunk. Then later on we retired outside to watch the construction of the new bird feeder. Then a quick visit from Julia’s brother/sister-in-law and little nephew + cake, coffee and wine.

Sunday afternoon wine & water

Lots of cat and puppy cuddles before heading to the airport to come back to Auckland.

I really cannot believe that it is now less than a month until Christmas.

Wellington Revisited

Ness with no caffeine

So decided to go to Wellington (again) for a friend’s birthday in the second week of September and to keep my other friend company while her husband was out of town on a photography trip....you know just in case she got LONELY. :P

As soon as I touched down in Wellington it was pretty much all go with takeaway coffee, visit to the garden centre, perusing a photo book created from the last photography excursion, watching a new show on TV and then off to pick Julia up from work.

We played ‘Cards Against Humanity’ on Thursday night which was HILARIOUS and had the 3 of us (even though you’re meant to play with a minimum of 4) in hysterics.

Oh and who knew that Burger Fuel’s new Jalapeno Poppers are the BEST THING in the whole world.

I had a particularly lovely lunch catch up with my friends Lou and Tara on Friday which was great as I had not seen either of them for quite some time. We had lots of laughs and lots of enthusiastic conversation. The thing that I really love about both these woman is that they are so very passionate about what they do for jobs and in life. It is so amazing and refreshing.

Full day of birthday celebrations from 10am – 10pm on Saturday with a beautiful cooked breakfast, then cakes, coffee, tea, savoury treats, more cake, pizza, wine. It was crazy and insane and a lovely way to spend a day with friends. We talked about all sorts of things from crafting businesses to a touch of politics to food. Love these two women. :)

Then the birthday gal and I went to the Carterton Daffodil festival on the Sunday and the weather was pretty horrendous. We did pick some daffodils although it was not quite the “sea of yellow” that we both expected. We both swore at not wearing better footwear as our canvas sneakers got muddy and wet. Still it was a lovely day and we had a great catch-up and got to look at all the shops in Greytown and Carterton. I also got to see their house which is lovely and just around the corner from my aunt. I bought mushrooms for Julia instead of flowers…that is what everyone does right??

We had leftovers from Saturday for dinner on Sunday and then out at 10pm to collect my friend’s husband from the ferry and hear all about his adventures. He came down from his shower to find Julia and I passed out on each end of the couch.

On Monday I had a lovely catch up with another friend for lunch on Monday and got to hear all about their new house. Then a crazy CRAZY bout of clothes shopping at City Chic.

There were so many cuddles with the fur-babies who I adore completely and lots of excitement about the birds around the bird feeder. 

Seriously though, now that I am 39 it takes me about a month to recover from 5 days away.