Week Fifty-Three? Week One? Who can say.

Sunday
The family gathered again for the traditional Boxing Day Barbecue.


Monday
My darling Husband and I left for a quick jaunt to the Beach for his family (ish) reunion.


Tuesday
It was raining in Pauanui. Excellent beach weather.


Wednesday
It didn't rain on Wednesday! But it was still cold for most of the day! Fan-fucking-tastic.
Actually it was really nice. I sat in the sun on the mostly sheltered balcony outside Craig and my bedroom and read and read and read. Craig went diving with his father and brothers, and his mother went to the beach with his aunt.
In the afternoon the family gathered at an adventure ... place. There was a flying fox and clay pigeon shooting and a lot of better and tequila. The last two pretty much summed up the family reunion. It was fun.


Thursday
It rained. Again.


Friday
Mount Ruapehu and the Desert Road.
(Can you see the scary clown face on the mountain?)
The last day of 2010 was spent driving and driving and driving and ... wait for it ... driving some more.
Upon arriving home we hosted a very chilled out New Years Eve party. All that we could manage after 8 hours driving.


Saturday
The first day of 2011 was celebrated with a last minute barbecue and later on, a lot of dancing to terrible/awesome music.
It was all in celebration of this lovely lady, my favourite Kat. She's visiting all the way from Edinburgh and I was so so pleased to see her. She's amazing.


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Did you notice? I went through from 2010 to 2011. Which means ... I managed all the photos for 2010!
And yes, I'm going to try and do the same for 2011.
I know you're excited. I sure am.

2011

2010 was a year with a lot of up, a lot of down, but mainly a lot of in between.

Visas for London swam into reach, then just out of reach, and finally? gone. Completely. But I'm okay with that now (mainly).
There was the day-and-a-half where I was fired and all the associated work drama which I do not discuss on the internet - except to say that I am much happier now.
Craig and I didn't manage to leave New Zealand but planned our January trip back to Hawaii.
I made all 365 days of photography! But felt uninspired a lot of the time.

However, one can only enter a new year with high hopes. I had them for 2010 and I have them for 2011.

In 2011 I will:
x be more frugal
x maintain the healthy-ish lifestyle I managed in 2010
x declutter
x take a photo every damn day
x keep percolating this tattoo idea. If I am still enamoured of it in May? It will be mine.

In 2011 I am looking forward to:
x Hawaii
x Summer Shakespeare
x Working hard
x Photography

Let's see how it goes. I can't wait!

Favourite Photos: 2010

January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November


December

Week Fifty-Two

Sunday
It was pouring with rain and surprisingly chilly. Perfect for lounging around watching West Wing (yes, still).


Monday
My instax and the Beehive - I was creating a gift tag.


Tuesday
I was actually just trying to get a shot of the rain drops on the ivy. Luckily I didn't even notice the huge fucking moth until downloading the photos from my camera. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.


Wednesday
Presents all purchased and carefully wrapped. Note the instax gift tags!


Thursday
For morning tea on my final day at work I made chocolate cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese icing topped with a piece of candy cane. Luckily noone noticed that the wrappers were covered with chili peppers.
I figured they were red and green and white and that was CLOSE ENOUGH.


Friday
The family came to Park Place for desserts on Christmas Eve. Charlotte provided gingerbread cookies and little tubes of icing so we could ice our own.
I chose the very christmassy Rothko. It made sense at the time.


Saturday
More food. I know. But the smoked salmon filoettes my darling mother made were amazing. And the tapenade ones in the background? a pretty contrast.


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Christmas at Park Place, 2010

I am officially on holiday. For a month.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with myself.
I'm hoping to make a dent in the books-to-read pile which has been teeteringly tall for the better part of the year. I'm hoping to get sand between my toes and salt water in my hair - covered, as always, in 70+ sunscreen (yes, seriously).

Craig and I are headed to Pauanui which I hear is a beach, and then to Hawaii, which I know is a beach.
Who am I? This yen for sun and sea is completely unlike me.
But I'm not going to argue. It'll make Craig happy.

Before then however there is Christmas.

Tonight the family are massing at Park Place for desserts and Christmas movies.
There is chocolate mousse with crushed candy cane topping, chocolate-peppermint cupcakes, and oodles of fresh berries.
There is Elf, Love Actually, and While You Were Sleeping.

And a lot of wine.

Week Fifty-One

Sunday
In anticipation of the tree which never arrived I brought out the creepy santas which I adore.


Monday
In a quiet moment at work I took the time to mark my lines for Much Ado About Nothing.
I play Don John - cast because of my natural malevolence.


Tuesday
Poor fowl. Broken christmas decorations in the office.


Wednesday
Beautiful striations in the sunset from Park Place.


Thursday
A silver star atop our new (black) faux christmas tree.


Friday
Sometimes Craig and I are TERRIBLE at being grownups. Candy canes and canned food. Not a meal amongst it all.


Saturday
Decorating the family tree at Trinity. This is the stocking I've had for as long as I can remember - handmade by my grandmother.


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On being tattooed

My favourite time of the day at the moment is just before 7am.
I take a moment, before getting dressed, I look in the mirror and, more often than not, I smile.

It’s wholly and completely unlike me. I have always had a realistic sense of self.
Or rather, I've always accepted my egotistical self-disinterest as merely one of the many many facets of my shiny personality.

I've always been more intelligent than pretty. Verbose rather than beautiful.
Too short, too round*, too pale, too baby-faced.
Too prone to pedantry.

I've wielded fashion like a mask, a costume.
Camouflaging myself with the generic fashions of my friends, the black and studs of the goth, distracting people with my cleavage, wearing clothes which exposed me and hid me all at once.

But my tattoos? My tattoos are me.
I designed them, I chose them, I endured the pain of them. I adore them.


It's taken me far too long to work this out. But every so often I turn to Craig and I say I just love my tattoos. I can't keep it in!


* admittedly, the weight loss of the last two years has probably helped as well.

Week Fifty

Sunday
A terrible grey-mood day. I attempted to assuage it with The West Wing.


Monday
I arrived in the office to Christmas decorations!


Tuesday
Lights in the Valley.


Wednesday
My new adorable bunny sculpture arrived. They now live on our mantel. So cute. And somewhat creepy.


Thursday
An inverted pentagram on the window display for Cue. Odd, n'est-ce-pas?


Friday
I recognise two of these men. And the dog. I mean, I recognise the dog is a DOG, but I don't ...
You know what I mean.


Saturday
Lowlow clouds and the beginnings of pears on our pear tree.


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