another birthday cake

Here is the football field cake, I made for my darling husband D. I am still very slack at posting at the moment - I'm soo busy!

Hopefully I'll catch up soon. Guides has nearly finished for the year, so that gives me a couple more free nights!

Apologies to those that have tried to get in touch with me and have been a bit ignored.. I love you really!!

M

tired and burnt

Well two guide camps later, I can cross off item 32 - Go camping and stay in a tent. I am VERY sunburnt (can't understand why - I lathered on the sunblock) and very tired. But we all had a great time! We got a wee bit of rain the first camp weekend, and then this weekend it was gloriously hot (thus the sunburn). I learned lots of new things about camping with Guides and really enjoyed hanging out with the girls.

Life has been a bit chaotic lately with things very busy at work, all the camping preparation and just general busyness. D has a bit of a cold, but managed to play cricket this weekend and go to the Phoenix game. (I was at camp - so D took his brother). The Phoenix drew with Sydney FC - one all. A wee bit of a disappointing finish as it was 1 - nil to us until 92 minutes - when Sydney were a awarded a penalty shot. That said, a draw is better than a loss!!

We received a package from our favourite online ratty store this weekend also. Full of new hammocks for the crew once we have finished their new cage....(not quite sure when we will have that done...). The Ratclub store has a fantastic range of rat related supplies, including an awesome range of bedding and hammocks. Its fantastic not having to visit a pet store!!

I'm off to spray my burns with after sun stuff and head to bed.. early start tomorrow....

M

exciting lithops news & old school games..

My lithops is growing so quickly!! I was hoping that it would divide in two, but only two replacement leaves appeared. (old leaves die). Maybe next time...

While with the in-laws this weekend, we dragged out the Monopoly board. I haven't played in years and forgot how much I love playing board games. I was the banker so I got to have fun with a big wad of cash. There were the usual heated moments (especially with siblings playing!) and arguments over what was and wasn't a good property deal.

D and I don't own a set, so I am going to keep an eye out at the Garage sales etc...

M

pinata cake

This weekend we had the birthday celebrations for D's sister, Sandra. To be honest, I'll be quite glad when this wee spate of birthdays is over! That said, there was a new addition to the October birthday calendar with the arrival of this wee bundle:

Isn't she cute? She is our 10 day old niece. She was a very big baby, weighing around 10 pounds and she was born with that thick wad of hair!! Congrats to her mummy and daddy.

On with the birthday-ness..

This is the 'pinata' cake that D and I made for Sandra...

The "treasure" cake inside:

and the pinata shell (chocolate with LOTS of different sized M&Ms)



and after Sandra had smashed it (as opposed to blowing out her candles):

It turned out pretty awesome. Very colourful and fun for Sandra to smash up! So here is a belated...

Happy Birthday Sandra!!!

M

labour weekend

Labour weekend seems to traditionally be a weekend of crap weather. Well not this year! Its been absolutely gorgeous. And now that summer is on the way and we've turned our clocks forward, it is 6pm and still sunny as. I love it! Roll on summer!!

I haven't posted for a wee while for a few reasons. Firstly, I got struck down with the flu and it was horrible horrible. I was very tired, grouchy, and snotty. I also started my new job (at the same time as getting the flu) so I have been very busy busy at work. I also now go to Guides twice a week, once to my training unit and once to my permanent unit. Still, no excuse not to blog. And especially no excuse to ignore my 101 list. It will be April 2010 before I know it and I really really wanna complete this list.

So for the tiny amount of people who actually read my blog, apologies. Lots of updates to come :)

Another birthday has been and gone so a bit belated:

Happy Birthday Ron aka Father-in-Law!

We went to the in-laws on Saturday for lunch and cake. D and I made a train cake!! I've always wanted to make one. Sadly, I didn't get any really good photos of the cake. It turned out HUGE at 1 metre long. D and I had a blast making it and Ron seemed to really like it. I'm sure they will be eating cake for a week! I think next time we make this, we might just do the engine!

Each carriage has different cargo. One has mini marshmallows, one has fruit jellies, and one has oreo 'wheels'. Our niece Abby loved it.

Ron is really into model trains and the family put together to get him some new trains for his railway track.

It seems D and I have become the birthday cake makers of the family. Its D's sisters birthday next so we have a special cake in store for her!





After the birthday celebrations we visited my dad and his family. Dad cooked a lovely roast beef (which admittedly I didn't eat much of - too full of cake!). D and I watched 'Toy Story 2' with our cute little nephews Latrell and Lazereth.

D and I in our Phoenix gears

D and I being the staunch Phoenix supporters that we are, headed off to the game last night against the Central Coast Mariners. Unfortunately it was a loss, but still a really good game. The Mariners are at the top of the table and we definitely game them a run for their money. It was one all at full time and then the Mariners scored a second goal in overtime. I have my reservations about the yellow card happy ref and his decisions (or lack of). At the end of the day, it was the Phoenix's defence that let us down. One of the goals was literally walked in by the Mariners' player. All that said, they are our team and we love them. (And Perth lost this weekend so we aren't bottom of the table!!).

gorgeous weather for the football

It has been a weekend of football, D and I headed to our nearby park and kicked a ball around for an hour or so in the sun today. We really enjoyed ourselves and plan to do it on a regular basis. D is playing his indoor football game at the moment (I'm supposed to be preparing dinner...)

Speaking of food, I only have one bento to post. We've been quiet slack these past weeks and really need to get back into the swing of things. Maybe this week can be the first week of my regular posting of bento! (Item# 87 on my 101 list)

mini meat patties (made+ frozen specially for bento), mini vege fritatta, toast onigiri, cucumber flowers, laughing cow cheese wedge, and wine gum lollies to fill the gap.
lime flavoured jelly, mandarin slices, and tamarillo.
peanuts and raisins, and some durian chips.
citrus herbal tea and an instant miso

M

Quick post to say ...

Happy Birthday Aunty Sandra!

Hope you've having an awesome time and enjoy your surprise!

M

bento, *yawns* and work

Bento #3
fruit salad with banana, plum, mandarin & raisins (with nutmeg+cinnamon), cheese wedge, haw flakes, mochi & lime jelly
rice with mixed furikake and boiled egg with nori flowers
left over deviled sausages with peas
instant miso and a citrus herbal tea

I've been pretty slack this week, with only one pretty bento. D had a day off sick and I am feeling pretty rundown. Work has been uber busy and I am moving into a new role which is very exciting! I have a lot of work to do before I can finish up where I am. I am really looking forward to the challenges of my new role - I will be quite self sufficient with a varied task list.

I've been meaning to send photos and thank-you cards to everyone that sent us cards and gifts for our wedding. So far, I've only managed two but I am working on more this weekend!! We are so blessed that so many people thought of us.

The Phoenix play Queensland Roar tonight (11pm NZ time) so I am doing my best to stay awake. It is proving difficult and I need to get up reasonably early tomorrow as I have a baby shower for D's brother's partner, which sounds like it is going to be fun. I love looking at cute baby stuff, I was hoping the baby would be born this week so we'd have her to play with! (and yes before you ask - I am extremely clucky but NO I am not having babies anytime soon!!)

Speaking of babies, the furkids have had their issues lately. While the boys are completely moved into the aviary - there is still a lot of scrapping. Also Geisha had a tumour removed last week. She is recovering really well, but I am starting to realise that the bulk of our crew are approaching (and passing) two years.

I'm off to snuggle with my hubby on the couch til the Phoenix play...

M

go the 'nix!!!

Today Wellington Phoenix FC played Perth Glory FC and won!!! Our first home win and it was an awesome game!! Score was 4-1 ! I am still bouncing from the excitement.

We had a bit of rain at the start but the crowd screamed and yelled and kept warm. Perth scored first early in the game while our defense were no where to be seen. The next four goals were ours and the crowd went nuts.

The Yellow Fever crew were going crazy and had their shirts off and swinging around their heads in the last 15min. It must have been FREEZING!!

All in all, a fantastic game - on my feet for most of it as usual!

Go the 'nix!

wind turbine

last weekend was so eventful, I still haven't blogged about it all! D and I went for a drive up to the Brooklyn Wind Turbine. I hadn't been up there before and the view was great!! The gorse on the hillside is in full bloom and looks absolutely gorgeous.

The bright yellow blooms make a beautiful frame to the view of the city.

The weather was fantastic all weekend and we managed to go out and do so much! Sadly, the weather hasn't been quite so fantastic this weekend. Well, at least I can catch up with my blog. :)

Speaking of catching up, I have managed to cross a few things off my 101 list!

Item #3 - Get married! (though I have noticed since the ceremony that I managed to completely misspell my mother's maiden name. hopefully that doesn't void our marriage...)

Item #35 - Obtain a world map. We managed to do better than that! My dear friends Sconey and Kate bought us an awesome Atlas of the World. It also came with a wall map! And to D's delight, it has images and descriptions of the world flags at the front. I plan to spend hours pondering all the places I want to visit.

Item #57 - I had the dreaded clean out of shoes. I threw away ALOT. Some even had mould growing on them. (*ew*)

D loves goody goody gumdrop ice-cream and last weekend, while stopping at the beach he bought a double cone... he was so frustrated that I didn't want him to lick it til I had taken a photo!

A good friend and colleague had her last day at work the other day. She has been accepted into Police Training College! As part of a farewell for her, I made her a handcuffs cake:

I think she liked it, the whole cake was demolished at morning tea time. Though I think a few people were put off by the grey icing...

another gigantic post. I really do need to blog more often. My blog is a funny place, considering how much I ramble, and I don't think anyone really reads it. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to promote it a bit more...

M

farewell winter

pretty daffodil in nelson

Once again, I have soo much to update and no time! I guess it is really a good sign as it means I actually have a life!

Nelson was great, it was good to catch up with friends and family. One thing I could not get over was how visually obvious it was that spring had well and truly arrived in Nelson! There were blossoms everywhere, including these daffodils on the side of the road:

There are also magnolia trees planted all over town and they are just beautiful in the spring. I took LOTS of photos of blossomy springness so hopefully I can do a nice big gardeny post soon.

D and I have been very excited about the Wellington Phoenix! (Our brand new local football team!) We have been to 2 of the 3 home games so far with another one this weekend. We both love football and really enjoy jumping up and down screaming our lungs out.

It seems the referees in the series are very bias - the crowd actually booed the refs off the field on Saturday. (which was kind of ironic as it was supposed to be a "fair play" match.)

Hopefully the Phoenix work and play hard and do well this season. The prior NZ teams in the series (the Kingz and the Knights) both sucked big time and never made it further than the bottom of the table. The Phoenix are doing pretty well and there have been some VERY close games.

I have been raving about wanting to make bento lunches for D and I. Well I'm finally doing it!

BENTO #1
boiled egg, sliced cucumber flowers and mini tomatoes
sliced tamarillo, green grapes and a small lime jelly
heart shaped rice onigiri, cheese+ham on sticks, more cucumber flowers and star shaped cheese


BENTO #2
banana+pineapple on sticks and sliced tamarillo
bed of rice with furikake and nori flowers
peanuts, lime jelly, wedge cheese, sliced crab stick, cucumber flowers, boiled egg, corn on cob and some lollies for D. (mine had marshmallows)

Its official, I am addicted to bento-ing. Luckily for my wallet, there aren't many places around NZ (especially wellington) that sell bento boxes and accessories. D is loving it as it is a guaranteed packed lunch each day.

(goodness this is a mammoth post...)

Last but not least, I managed to cross off number 38 on my 101 list. D and I went for a fantastic picnic yesterday. Originally planned as a sunrise breakfast (but we couldn't haul ourselves out of bed) we instead heading up to Raumati Beach. It was a gorgeous day, and felt like Nelson in the summertime.

It was so relaxing and so good to spend such quality time together (with my husband!!). We had a lovely drive up, listening to a special mix CD made for us by Sconey - "music to be in love to".

anyways... bed is calling...

M

nelson...

magnolia bloom

Still no time for a big post, but I have a quick moment for a wee update. I am in Nelson, and spring is HERE! We haven't seen many blossoms in Wellington yet, but they are EVERYWHERE in Nelson. I've taken a few snaps that I will post once I'm back in Wellington with some time to spare... (argh - where does my time go??). Everywhere we go in Nelson, I see Magnolias in full bloom.

I came down to Nelson for my Grandad's memorial service. We held a small family service and talked about our memories of grandad. Grandad donated his body to science, so we had no body to bury. Instead we had a wee bonfire of some of granddad's clothes and then buried them. It was really good and I appreciated the time to grieve.

My favourite memory of Grandad is the night of one of my school balls. Mum had told Grandad about the ball and that we were having predrinks at Mums beforehand. Grandad turned up (walking all the way from their house) to see me in my ballgown. He'd hoped to sneak away before I knew he was there, but he was spotted. A snapshot was taken of Grandad and I, and I've looked at it a lot these past few days. Grandad was a very reclusive man and it was a really big deal (for me especially) that he came to see me.

**Love you Grandad***

M

so much to say... so little time....

icing flower from the gorgeous wedding cake mum made

first of all... We got married! I am officially a wife. It feels really odd saying "my husband" but very awesome at the same time. We had an amazing wedding weekend. It was VERY relaxed and small, there was lots of laughter and smiles. I LOVE how we did it - we had an absolute ball.

Small family ceremony on Friday, then a blessing + cake cutting before heading to dinner with close friends and family at a Mexican cafe. (There were ALOT of margaritas!) We spent Saturday with our friends and family and finished Sunday off by going to the Phoenix Game. Whew. What a weekend. No wonder it has taken me three days to post about it. (That and my camera accidentally went home with someone to NELSON! hehehe)

dinner and margaritas

Sadly, on Thursday 6th of September 2007 - My beloved Granddad passed away. In a way, it is good that he is no longer in pain, but it is a difficult loss for our family. I am heading to Nelson tomorrow evening and we will hold a memorial service for Granddad there.

****REST IN PEACE GRANDDAD ** I LOVE YOU ****

I also managed to cross a few things off my 101 list, but I think I'll post about that later..


M

big catch up...

On Tuesday night we were lucky enough to see the lunar eclipse. The weather wasn't the best in Welly so the moon was often obscured by clouds. Apparently it was the best kind of lunar eclipse as it lasted so long. It was very cool -and quite freaky to see the moon so red.

And yes, I am obsessed with Bento. I have spent countless hours looking at bento blogs and wishing we could get cool bento accessories in NZ. I am making a bento of sorts for lunch tomorrow. I'd love to get into the habit of making really funky packed lunches - first I'd eat healthier and second its cheaper! Maybe then I can justify spending money on a bento box!!

My 101 list hasn't been progessing so well, with all the getting married excitements. We did managed to open a joint bank account so that is number 56 crossed off. Sadly that only brings me to a total of 6 completed! I have managed to read a few more books, and change a few of the books that were on my list.

It has also been a busy week for my Guides involvement. I had a full day workshop yesterday that goes towards my leaders certificate. It was really fun and great to meet some other leaders. I am also selling Girl Guide Biscuits! The "season" is basically over, but both the units I am involved with have a few boxes left. So if you want some Girl Guide biccies..... hehe.
In fact, I think I have taken enough steps towards becoming a Guide Leader than I can cross of number 26 - Become a volunteer. I am really enjoying Guides and I am keen to get more involved.

And I cannot forget a very Happy Birthday to my bestest friend Kate, her birthday was on Monday 27 August 2007. I'm afraid I haven't been a very good friend this birthday time - things have got away on me. However, I am very lucky she is coming up to visit me and help celebrate our marriage.

Happy Birthday Kate!!

It is only 4 days til D and I actually get married. I am not in the slightest bit stressed (yay for low key weddings) but I am getting very excited and a tad nervous... I am also looking forward to catching up with my family and good friends that are coming to help us celebrate.

I also have some very sad news. My dear Grandad is very ill with pneumonia and is not expected to recover. It is very upsetting and I really feel for my mum at this time as she is stressed about coming to Welly for our wedding and also about what will happen to Grandad.

Love you Grandad.....

M

bento boxes!!

First of all; a picture of the Green Elephant Cake we made for Angela:

It didn't turn out the best - but we are learning all the time! We had a great day at D's folk's house. As usual, we played lots of games and ate far to much food! Today the card game of choice was memory, which is good game when Abby (D's niece) is there too.

I haven't done any of the tidying/cleaning I promised myself I would do this weekend so its going to be busy busy in the days leading up to our BIG DAY... (God, I am so excited and so NERVOUS!). Mum + G are coming to stay for a few nights so we need to make room to fit them in. Only 12 days til D and I are married! I booked the hotel today using my new last name - god it felt weird - but very exciting. I noticed D had a huge grin on his face when he heard me using it. How cute is that?

Today, while doing my usual blog reading procrastination I found/remembered BENTO BOXES! Bento boxes are basically a Japanese concept of lunchboxes. Mums in Japan go hard out to make flash bento boxes for their kids/husbands to take. Anyway there is quite an online culture of bento - lots of tutorials/advice and tips for new bento-ers. I also found several cool bento flickr groups. Best of all, a bento blog! Lunch in a box has heaps of cool ideas/recipes and funky bento ideas. I wish we could get all that cool stuff in NZ!

I think lunch would be far more exciting if we had an amazing bento to open each day. I think I'll keep an eye out for any containers I could use for bento. It would be much cheaper than buying lunch and would hopefully motivate us to spend the time making lunch. And of course - bento is so visually attractive so that makes for great photos for you dear blog!

Here is a beautiful bento made by lilergy (a flickr bento member)

I've looked at ALOT of bento pics today and I consistently love Lilergy's styles.

I've been neglecting my 101 list lately, with all the getting married plans :P You'll be pleased to know that "get married" is one of the private items on my list, so I will be able to cross that off soon... :D

M *bounce*

sooo busy

Wagh. Where has this week/month/year gone?? We have quite a lot on at the moment and it doesn't feel like I am accomplishing much. I need to get the rattie/craft/spare room sorted so we have room when my Mum comes to stay. I can't believe that we are getting married in less than two weeks?!~! I am not stressed at all (in fact I LOVE how not-stressed things are) but I am quite nervous and of course excited!

Today I helped out at a Community Market Day where some of the Guides had some stalls:

It was good fun - sold some Girl Guide Biscuits (and took a box to sell at work) and there was a hangi. We sold some of the crafty stuff the Guides have made over the last few weeks.

D's brother Graeme and his partner Rochelle are currently pregnant - and are around 32 weeks. R went into premature labour today which is a bit scary. Apparently they managed to stop the labour, but the baby (they think its a girl!) will definitely be premature. Its quite exciting having a new baby in the family - but also quite emotional for D and I as we lost a baby a couple of years ago. I hope all goes well for G + R - we'll be thinking of them lots over the next few weeks.

In other family news... its D's sister Angela's birthday today!!

Happy Birthday Angela !!!

We are baking her a cake - will take photos and post tomorrow.. Anyways I have to go to bed, its been a loong week.

M

rat cake

Today I made a rat cake! I spent a while trying to draw a rat shape and eventually gave up and decided on this design. It was reaaally easy to make - I just cut the face and body shape out of cake and iced accordingly.

We were going to give it to vetman as a thankyou for being such an amazing vet, but the icing didn't turn out as well as I'd liked. I'll give it another try sometime soon.

Today I am TRYING to clean up the crafting/rattie room today but I keep getting distracted by the internet...

M

freeezing

We woke up freeezing this morning and when we got out to the car it was obvious why! Today we had our worst frost this winter! (It took a wee while to get the car warmed up).

I've crossed a couple more things off my 101 list!

62 - Improve the design of the furkids blog
95 - Learn heaps more about html and blogging and use skills to make my blogs pretty

Both involve a bit of html fiddling. You can check out the furkids new page here. The background image is a banksy rat stencil. I LOVE Banksy rats. I wish I could make amazing stencils and street art like Banksy. The furkids blog is a simple layout/design and a separate blog to avoid millymiss becoming overrun with stories about the rats! :P So for those of you that care, you can always access the furkids blog by clicking on the pic of Aiko in the sidebar. And for those of you that don't, you can happily ignore that blog :D

As for the html and design of millymiss, I've made quite a few changes and finally feel like i'm at the point where I don't need to play with the layout every weekend!

Things I've completed:

• Added a second sidebar


• Adjusted the width of the middle and sidebar columns to the perfect width


• Added a funky wee pink "M" icon to my url address


• Added a Tag cloud (see right sidebar)


• Put my 101 list in the sidebar in html, including pop out lists for my 101 books and movies


• Made a funky progress bar for my 101 list


• Played around with the colour scheme and background a million times


• Removed the header (and then added it back again)


• Learnt how to make a picture lead to another page (clicking the Aiko pic loads the Furkids blog)

I'm sure I've done/learnt more, this blog has been in construction for quite some time. Anyway, I feel I've done enough to cross this off the list.!! So that brings the total completed to 5!!

And.... in more exciting news, D and I set a "getting married" date. 7 September 2007. That is right - in 3 weeks!! I love how low maintenance and stress free we are doing this. Its fantastic!! Its going to be a quiet ceremony at the Registry office with minimum witnesses and then we are going to go out for dinner with close friends and family that evening.

Its been a busy week again, I can't believe its already Thursday!! Guides was fun this week - we made maracas by paper mache - ing bottles. Then we had an induction ceremony for three new girls that have joined our unit. I hoped to take some pics but forgot!!!

It feels like we spend soo much time on the bus these days. I miss being able to jump in the car and park close to work. However I do feel happy that we are being greener and doing our bit to reduce carbon emissions. We also often walk home which is very good for us!!

Anyway, this has been a longish post and I'm very tired..

M

fantastic service

I just had to take another pic of the gorgeous flowers given to me by my dear friends Kate & Sconey. The lilies in the bunch have now opened up and they look beautiful! I love the bright colours.

Today I received the most fantastic service EVER! After feeling quite annoyed at my recent attempt to get my service machine serviced (see yesterdays post) I took it to Wellington Sewing Services who have a fancy new store in the Kilbirnie Plaza.

The very helpful team tested my machine and told me there was nothing wrong with it and even took the time to show me how to clean it properly. The BEST news is that they are planning to run 'learn to sew' evenings! I told them that Sconey and I would be VERY keen. So if you are in the Wellington area I HIGHLY recommend Wellington Sewing Services for all your sewing/repair needs. They've definitely got my business!! (One day when I can justify buying a new machine.....)

This means I can finally cross Item 53 off my 101 list. Sewing machine has been serviced! Yay!

AND.. you'll also notice by looking at my header that I have also completed Item 88 - make cupcakes and decorate them. D and I had great fun decorating these today today to make my new header:

They didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped - we had to rush a bit to make sure we still had sunlight hours to photograph them. :) But I'm sure we'll give them another go. Sconey gave us a fantastic cupcake recipe that D has pronounced delicious.


M

birthday cake bonanza

I've been flicking through the "Australian Women's Weekly: Children's Birthday Cake Book" and found sooo many cakes I want to decorate! D's mum has nominated me the birthday cake maker for the family now so I'm sure we'll get LOTS of opportunity to make some.

In fact, I was so taken with the old book - I purchased the new version:

Its not quite as good as the old school one, but its pretty good and has some new designs that are cool. I'd still be very keen to pick up a copy of the old one if I find one!

D's sister Angela has her birthday next weekend so we're planning a cake for her. I'm also going to make and decorate some cupcakes this weekend so we went on a mission to find the necessary lollies to decorate. We cannot find Liquorice Straps! We've been EVERYWHERE! I hope they still make them! Cupcakes is on my list - so hopefully I can cross another thing of my list.

Speaking of crossing another thing off my list - GRRRRRRRR
I dropped my sewing machine in to be serviced a couple of weeks ago and finally made it in to pick it up today, only to find that NOTHING had been done. The repair/service guy had apparently ignored the instructions to give it a service and had instead "assessed" the machine and noted that the "hook" was broken and needed replacing. I had left it with instructions to fix anything that was wrong, but to call me if it exceeded a certain amount. Well I got no call an no fix!~! Boy was I grumpy. Especially as I'd already paid the $27 deposit! The lady in the shop said they'd had a lot of problems with the repair man lately and perhaps I should take it to someone else?!!

The other repair guy in Welly is open tomorrow I think so I'll take it down and see what he thinks. A new sewing machine is NOT in the budget right now!

In much happier news - eeep I'm engaged! Its so exciting. I didn't think that much would change but it kinda has and I get really excited looking at my ring! I love D so much and can't wait to marry him. We are going to find out about dates for the registry office on Monday!

M

officially engaged ! !

Fantastical exciting news! D proposed last night! And of course I said yes! I really wasn't expecting him to propose! We decided to get married a lil while back and had originally planned to get hitched last month. Regrettably, D had a few work "issues" so we put it off and its kinda been on the back burner ever since.

D was very sweet and tied the ring (yes, I got a ring!!) round Geisha's neck! So our sweet Geisha brought me my ring. Even though we've talked about it often, it was still quite a nerve-racking moment!!! I've tried to take a pic of my ring - but it ain't working!! So instead you can have a pic of the BEAUTIFUL flowers my special girls Sconey and Kate sent. :) Thanks my girls, I love them.

In other news... I crossed the first item off my list!

Item #2 - Get my hair cut and coloured by a hairdresser! - Completed 8 August 07!
That's right, I FINALLY got my hair cut & coloured! I've had HEAPS cut off - its quite shortish now (above the shoulders). I've had loads of compliments so it can't look too bad!

Its been a really busy week and I haven't had much time to blog, but soo much to write about! Tuesday night I had Guides (we did aerobics!), Wednesday I had my hair done, Thursday we went for a drive out to Lower Hutt + Porirua to go mall-shopping, and today is Friday.

Wednesday lunchtime D and I went for a mission down the waterfront to go to the "Amazing Rug Sale" that is often on at the Overseas Terminal. They always advertise on TV with like beautiful $50 rugs and I've ALWAYS wanted to go.

It was actually a bit of a let down. I think we arrived too late and I saw a lot of $5000 rugs but didn't see any "cheap" rugs! We did have a nice walk along the waterfront though. I wish it was closer to work so we could go walking down there every lunch time.

M

crochet, crochet, crochet

I took these photos of a few of the amazing crochet patterns in the crochet pattern set that Sconey and I managed to score at a Garage Sale in the weekend. I just love the little hooded jacket - I wish I could make myself one! The 'father and son matching hat & scarf set' is absolutely adorable. And what can I say about 'tommy the turtle'!! The little fruit appliqués are quite cool too. There are also quite a few hideous patterns that belong in the 70s and should NEVER be made again.

Hopefully I'll find some inspiration to crochet something and FINALLY learn to crochet!

I read 'Lullaby' by Chuck Palahniuk last night. It was really good. Disturbing but good. Chuck was the guy who wrote 'Fight Club' (you've probably seen the movie). So thanks Sconey for recommending it. I think I'll read a few more of his books! And - its another book crossed off my 101 books to read.

D started Indoor Football tonight - hopefully their team will have more luck indoors than they have had outdoors!!