Birthdays, Bodybuilding and Babies

Birthday Lion

The beginning of October marked a Wellington trip for my friend’s birthday. Incidentally, I have been to Wellington 3 x times now in very close succession and each trip has led to different experiences and also catching up with friends and/or family.

The main point of the trip was to go and celebrate with Julia for her birthday and we had an amazing time! I arrived late on Thursday night and we stayed up until about 2am talking, laughing and drinking. We woke up on Friday morning (her birthday) a little knackered and worse for wear. However, because we are ‘professionals’ we soldiered on and had a catch up with her sister-in-law and nephew (who is ADORABLE). Then we took treats over to our friend who was madly preparing for the Craft Central Artisan Market at the St James on Saturday.

On Saturday morning we raced to the market and ended up buying some amazing things from our friend from SweetDesigns NZ. Julia and I are enablers and I think that I probably got Julia to spend more by saying “What does the fox say” every time I saw something with a fox on it. We managed to buy a few more lovely things on our way out the door from dPendants and ZippityDooDah!

After a very quick stroll along the waterfront we picked up Julia’s birthday cake from Louis Sergeant for Sunday. Then back home to unpack so Julia could be ready to get picked up for her birthday surprise. This left Paul and I home alone and excited about the prospect of lying at opposite ends of the couch to watch a movie. Julia, her friend and daughter came home to find Paul and I on the couches with drinks, chips and under blankets smothered in cats and dogs.

Then I went out to the Hutt to see my sister-in-law and father-in-law and watch my brother-in-law compete in his event at the ASN and Les Mills 2014 NABBA Wellington Bodybuilding Championships. I thought that I really would not cope seeing him compete as it is not every day that you see your brother-in-law with not a lot of clothing on, on stage. However, it was incredible and he did so well and I cannot even fathom the sheer amount of work and mental fitness it takes to compete in a competition like this. It was really interesting to see all the other competitors as well as there were a variety of different ages, nationalities and body types. What I understand now is that it does not matter how hard you work there are some things that you just cannot change about your body and that is okay. Also, seeing the different age groups i.e. 40+, 60+ and 70+ you can really see the changes that happen with age. All and all it was an amazing experience! Oh and the heels that the women wear when they come on stage at the end…..how do they walk in them???

Sunday brought a more relaxed start with the rugby (although Paul and I were yelling at the end) and Julia cooked us this amazing breakfast with eggs, and leftover wedges and cheese. INCREDIBLE! Then we pretty much just chilled out until her family arrived at 2pm and we had nibbles and cake! After hearing so much about her brother I finally got to meet him which was great. I think that when you already know a person through a friend when you do meet them it feels like already know them.

Leaving this time was really hard as I do not have a planned date to go down again. However, the most exciting thing is, is that (finally) Julia is coming to Auckland after Christmas. She will finally get to meet our crazy fur babies and see our house!! It is possible I will have to fill the Whisky cupboard now and hope that Mark does not drink it all before she arrives!

So many laughs.....thank you both for having me! "Touch the cow. Do it now".

New music:

‘Blame (feat. John Newman’ ~ Calvin Harris

‘Changing (feat. Paloma Faith)’ ~ Sigma

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.

Spring Vegetable Garden

When we moved into our new place we decided we really wanted a veggie garden. My friend and landlord kept saying “oh you need to put in your winter garden”. Suffice to say it’s nearly spring and we obviously did not put in a winter garden.

Perhaps if we had spent a little less creating virtual farms on Farmtown, then we would have actually made our own garden.

The area for the garden is pretty much ready, although it needs another weed before we raise it slightly and put soil and compost in.

The best thing is, is that we live in an incredibly fertile area. I think a lot of the land was actually market gardens. Citrus grows really well.

To be honest I am kind of excited and apprehensive about having a garden. I am excited because we get to grow our own food, but apprehensive because I really want it to work. Both my parents are avid gardeners, so it’s funny for me to not really have a green thumb in the slightest.

So Mark and I really need to get started, otherwise we are going to miss another season for gardening and growing our own beautiful, yummy vegetables.

Feeling a little more motivated now, perhaps we will weed this weekend and get the top soil and compost in!

Next year I might consider some spring flowers.