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